







in I 


11m 


- 


Ipi 1 






::;.' :■ '■'■'■ ■ 






ill 


111 


HUlHmlUUHHHi! 






i 


}|{{ {J .; ; :; 




SjII 




■ ''■"■■\':\K JHiilibi;-! 


;:j;:| : ;; : . . ::: : . ;; jj .;-.. .; .;...;,- : , . . i , ., . . . . . . , : 






^ ™^^ 



ill 




Class W//0 
Book - F *2- 



Copyright^ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/outlineofindivid01part 



AN OUTLINE 

OF 

INDIVIDUAL STUDY 



BY 
G. E. PARTRIDGE, Ph. D. 

FORMERLY LECTURER IN CLARK UNIVERSITY 



flew l£orft 

STURGIS & WALTON 

COMPANY 

1910 

All rights reserved 






Copyright 1910 
By STURGIS & WALTON OOMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published March. 1910 



©CI.A261G24 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

HISTOEY AND THEORY OF INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

PAGE 

I. The Nature of Individuality 3 

II. Individual Study as a Science 11 

III. The Variational Method 17 

IV. Individual Study Within Psychology .... 26 
V. Individual Study Prom the Biological Point of 

View 36 

PART II 

PRACTICAL STUDY OF INDIVIDUALS 

I. Methods and Directions - . ._ 47 

II. Examination of the Health 52 

III. Observation of Body Characteristics 64 

IV. Measurement of the Body 73 

V. Observation of Movements ....... 85 

VI. The Experimental Study of Movement .... 72 

VII. General Description of Mental Traits . . . .103 

VIII. The Emotional Life 113 

IX. Interests and Instincts 128 

X. Some General Characteristics of Interest . . . 138 

XI. Senses and Perception 146 

XII. Senses and Perception {continued) 153 

XIII. Mechanism of the Mind: Memory 163 

XIV. Mechanism of the Mind: Association .... 171 
XV. Free Activity of the Mind 178 

XVI. Purposive Thinking 186 



CONTENTS 
PART III 

APPLICATION AND EESULTS OF INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

PAGE 

I. A Study of Two Children 201 

II, Types of Individuals 221 

III. Pedagogical Aspects of Individuality .... 227 



PREFACE 

This manual of methods for the study of the 
human individual is intended to serve a prac- 
tical and introductory rather than a scien- 
tific purpose. It is not intended for students 
interested in research, but is for those who 
wish a first guide in the study of individuals. 
It is in one sense and not another that it is 
called practical. It does not contain much 
about standards and results of experiments, by 
means of which one can safely compare in- 
dividuals with the average or norm, for the 
purposes of an exact or scientific pedagogy. 
It is intended to be practical in the sense that 
it is hoped that by it the student can be led 
to observe individuals more intelligently and 
systematically, and thus be the better able to 
understand and serve them. Incidentally it is 
to be hoped that some insight into the nature of 
individuality and the scientific study of it will 
be acquired. 

The book comprises for the most part a 
course of study that has been used several 
times in classes in a Normal School, each time 
with an increased conviction that some such 
work is the best psychology and pedagogy for 



ii PREFACE 

these classes: for with the attention focused 
on the individual and his needs, general prob- 
lems cannot fail to appear also, and practical 
questions are always within reach. This is the 
case method that has succeeded so well in the 
training of physician and lawyer. That it has 
a wider application in the training of the 
teacher than has yet been given it, seems to be 
indicated. As a method of mind training it 
has some of the advantages of the intensive 
work of higher grades, and the value to the 
student of studying thoroughly cne or a few 
individuals is believed to be great. The par- 
ticular experiments made, and the scientific 
knowledge gained are of minor importance from 
this consideration, but the increased power to 
analyze the life- situation of another person that 
is acquired is of great value. To be led from 
a state of ignorant indifference toward an un- 
interesting person to a sympathetic and intelli- 
gent cooperation in his welfare is one of the 
best experiences that can come to any one, and 
particularly to a teacher. 

In practice, work such as is outlined in this 
book can be given to students either before or 
after other study of pedagogy and psychology. 
The experience and observation of the writer 
lead him to the conviction that most so-called 
general psychology, even the most elementary, 
fails to affect the practical life of the teacher, 
and that more study of the kind that brings 



PREFACE iii 

the student into contact with children is needed 
in Normal Schools. It seems better to lead to 
psychology from practical questions that arise 
in actual teaching or observing of children than 
to try to apply psychology in advance to the 
work of teaching. Students do not readily ap- 
ply psychology, and one successful training 
teacher whose experience extends over a period 
of twelve years declares that in all her ac- 
quaintance with practice teachers she has never 
known an instance in which any reference was 
ever made spontaneously by a student to any 
principle or fact that had been acquired in pre- 
vious psychological work. Such testimony, if 
it is at all representative of the state of affairs 
in the Normal School, argues for closer contact, 
on the part of the psychological student, with 
the problems of the schoolroom and the indi- 
viduals in it. 

If some general psychology is to precede ob- 
servation and practice it seems best that it 
should be largely genetic psychology; study in 
which the teacher-to-be is made to live again 
his own childhood, and to follow the course of 
his own mental development. If this is entered 
into with zest by the student it is difficult to 
see how study of systematic treatises on ana- 
lytic psychology, in the time that is usually 
devoted to psychology, can add much to the 
practical result that is desired for the teacher. 

The experiments and methods of observation 



iv PREFACE 

that are described have been gathered from 
many sources, and no special effort has been 
made to give credit to those who have first 
suggested them, except in cases in which the 
results of research made by the method have 
been mentioned. The greatest single source 
of assistance has been the work of Binet. 
Many of his tests have been used, and some of 
them modified to suit present purposes. The 
experimental work of American writers has 
yielded others: some have been devised by the 
writer. Nearly everything in the book has 
been put to considerable trial in actual investi- 
gations. Some of the tests have been modified 
as a result of such use, or to avoid the use 
of apparatus: some are described exactly as 
they were tried. The purpose being to stimu- 
late practical observation of individuals, rather 
than research, it has not been thought neces- 
sary in some cases to describe the methods in 
full detail, but to leave something to the choice 
and ingenuity of the student. The investiga- 
tions and observation of the writer upon which 
the methods are based are as follows: — In- 
vestigation of special topics such as control of 
the reflex wink and description of an imaginary 
animal made upon Worcester school children; 
study of two hundred East Side school children, 
New York, with H. S. Curtis, reported in New 
York School Board Eeports 1898; physical ex- 
amination of two thousand school children, 



PREFACE ▼ 

Worcester; study of physical condition of 
school children, Mankato, Minnesota; report to 
Worcester School Board on examinations of 
sight and hearing of school children; study of 
a group of eighty school children during a 
period of three years, Mankato Normal School ; 
study of defectives in schools and hospitals, 
Worcester; study of twins, reported in Chap- 
ter I, Part III. Some of the material used in 
Part I is adapted from unpublished lectures 
delivered at Clark University in 1905, on the 
subject of Variational Psychology. 

G. E. Paeteidge. 
Worcester, Mass., 
December 5, 1909. 



HISTOEY AND THEOEY OF INDI- 
VIDUAL STUDY 



THE NATUBE OF INDIVIDUALITY 

Although to the student of philosophy the 
nature of individuality is a profound problem, 
for our ordinary practical purposes we have 
a sufficiently clear understanding of what we 
mean by a human individual. We speak of 
ourselves and others as individuals, thinking 
of individuals as centers of action, and pos- 
sessors of a unique mental content, into which 
no other person can penetrate, except indi- 
rectly. Individuals moreover possess bodies 
through which the inner life is partly expressed 
and by means of which they contend and coop- 
erate with each other. Many experiences in 
practical life teach us that there are many dif- 
ferences among individuals; that, indeed, no 
two can be found that are exactly alike. 

Study of other forms of life than the human 
shows that variability among individuals also 
exists even in the lowest orders of life, both 
in the vegetable and animal kingdom; that 
though individuals of these orders are less com- 
plex than the human, yet they differ greatly 
from each other. Accepting the evolutionary 
theory of life, it is plain that the problem of 

3 



4 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

individuality in the human race may be re- 
garded as a part of a larger problem that deals 
with variability in general as it appears in 
all forms of life. Individuality therefore is a 
deep scientific problem. 

An individual, regarded as a scientific prob- 
lem, presents himself for study in several dif- 
ferent aspects. He is, first, a member of a 
species, an individual different from all other 
individuals of that species. Being complex, he 
can be analyzed into factors or elements, and 
can then be compared with others of the species 
with reference to the characteristics of these 
elements. The ideal of an exact science of in- 
dividuality would be to measure each of the 
variable traits and to assign the individual with 
regard to it, to his place in the species. 

But an individual would not be described 
completely even if it were possible to attain 
this ideal, for he is more than a mere collec- 
tion of variables; he is a unique whole, in 
which the parts are balanced in just such a way 
as to make this particular individual. Analy- 
sis fails to find the whole nature of a man, just 
as a description of the features one by one 
would fail to be a description of that whole 
we mean when we speak of a face. Two faces 
very much alike in the analysis would be very 
different in the total; so two individuals sim- 
ilar in the analysis may be different when ap- 



NATURE OF INDIVIDUALITY 5 

predated as wholes; when they are judged 
with reference to their values, social and eth- 
ical. Conversely two people much alike in 
their social and ethical values may be quite 
different in their composition, a similarity of 
result being produced by a different combina- 
tion of elements. 

But this descriptive method, even when both 
analytic and synthetic points of view are taken, 
does not yet tell us entirely what is meant by 
an individual; for a person is not only some- 
thing that can be analyzed and described, but 
he is, from birth to death, a concrete series of 
connected events, only a part of which can be 
understood by examining his nature as a sum 
of parts, or even as a member of a group ; for 
in a measure these events are the result of 
forces not contained in the individual at all, 
and in some cases the whole career seems to 
hinge upon a single event. 

An individual therefore is not only a bundle 
of elements interrelated with each other ; he is a 
whole which can be described and judged as 
such; and he is that which he appears to him- 
self to be, a self with a life history made up of 
concrete events, some of which are the fulfill- 
ment of his own purposes, some the result of 
forces and purposes which he does not control. 
All of these aspects of the individual must be 
observed, in their relations to each other, if an 



6 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

insight into the meaning of individuality is to 
be obtained. An individual can be understood 
only by examining him from all of these view- 
points. 

Making now a division of subject matter for 
the purposes of observing differences of in- 
dividuals, there appears to be a sharp distinc- 
tion between traits of mind, and traits of body. 
Both the body and mind seem to be made up of 
parts or functions so joined that, although 
they can be observed separately, there are many 
relations among them. 

Both common observation and scientific study 
show that in bodily traits individuals differ 
greatly; this is certainly true of all parts of 
the body that can be observed, and anatomists 
and physiologists declare that differences are 
quite as great in those internal parts that are 
concealed from ordinary observation, even in 
the minute structures and processes that can 
be examined only by the microscope and by 
chemical methods. 

The most casual observation shows, too, that 
there are many and great differences among in- 
dividuals in their mental traits. The mind like 
the body seems to be made up of parts that 
can vary independently of each other; and 
yet, though all combinations are thinkable, 
some appear to be found more frequently than 
others. 



NATURE OF INDIVIDUALITY 7 

Not only when viewed in this analytical way 
do individuals appear to differ, but when they 
are considered synthetically with reference to 
their personality as a whole, and to those as- 
pects of it which they present to us in the 
practical relations of life : their values and effi- 
ciencies : aspects of the individual in recognition 
of which we have a rich vocabulary of descrip- 
tion, approbation, and disapproval. 

Lastly, from that point of view which we 
take in regarding an individual as a series of 
concrete events, the greatest differences of all 
are found, some of which we can understand 
by referring to the traits of the individual, or 
to the logic of events in which he participates, 
others of which seem to be mysterious dispen- 
sations of Providence or the result of fortui- 
tous combinations of circumstance. 

The study of individuality then is no mere 
observation of the likenesses and differences 
that appear to superficial view, but it is a com- 
plex problem, a part, on the one hand, of the 
biological problem of variation, on the other 
related to problems of general psychology, 
ethics, and sociology. Variation in the human 
species is presumably subject to the same laws 
that prevail in producing variability elsewhere ; 
but the complexity of the human organism 
makes the study of human variability pecu- 
liarly difficult. It would be suspected at the 



8 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

outset that the study of an object so complex 
as a human individual would be beset with 
many difficulties, and in the actual pursuit of 
it that suspicion is not likely to be proven un- 
founded. If we examine the causes that pro- 
duce individuality the explanation of the 
complexity of the problem is soon found. Two 
great divisions of fact must be considered; the 
factors of heredity and of environment. Each 
individual is a product of two long lines of 
ancestry; he is a mixture of elements derived 
from both, a sum of innumerable factors. But 
he is not only a complex organism, but a plastic 
one, and environment at the earliest moment 
of life begins to play a part in still further es- 
tablishing his individuality. The human being, 
having both greater complexity of structure 
than other species, greater plasticity, and a 
longer period of infancy, and at the same time 
being influenced by a more complex environ- 
ment, becomes finally the most individual of all 
creatures. 

But this process of creating individuality 
has not ceased with our present state of so- 
ciety but goes on continually and as specializa- 
tion increases in modern life individuals tend 
apparently to become more complex, and at 
the same time, to differ from one another in 
more ways. An estrangement of individuals 
from one another and an increasing difficulty 
of mutual understanding therefore go hand in 



\ 



NATURE OF INDIVIDUALITY 9 

hand with the increasing cooperation that is 
more often noticed as the result of social 
progress. This increasing individuality has 
both advantages and disadvantages, consid- 
ered from the standpoint of the interests 
of society. Greater specialization makes for 
greater efficiency and a social life richer in 
possibilities of moral and social progress; but 
it also, by isolating the individual, increases 
the difficulty of his personal problems, and in 
dealing with others he tends to lack more and 
more adequate knowledge of them. No doubt 
the increasing estrangement from our fellows 
is in part compensated and overcome by the in- 
creased definiteness and specialization of our 
relations with them, but the fact remains that 
in many departments of life there is a grow- 
ing necessity for a better knowledge of individ- 
uals and better methods of studying them. 
The result is that the study of the individual is 
itself becoming a specialty, and the specialist 
comes to mediate between the practical worker, 
and the object of his labor. Indications of 
this movement are to be found in education in 
the development of the research department 
and of the psychological, medical, and anthropo- 
metrical specialist. In the profession of medi- 
cine a class is coming to be set apart for the 
special work of scientific diagnosis, more exact 
than can be carried on by the busy practitioner. 
It is shown in literature by the rapidly increas- 



10 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

ing interest in biography as a form of litera- 
ture: and in all the sciences that deal with 
human nature there is a trend of interest toward 
the problems of the individual. Stern has de- 
clared enthusiastically that individuality is to be 
the great problem of the twentieth century ; it is 
certainly one of the fields in which scientific 
research is likely to be active in the near fu- 
ture, for many interests seem to be converging 
to a center in the study of the problems of 
the individual, both in their practical and their 
scientific aspects. 

REFERENCES 

If one wishes to enter into philosophic questions 
of the nature of individuality works like The World 
and the Individual, by Royce, and Social and Ethi- 
cal Interpretations in Mental Development, by Bald- 
win should be read. These are profound and sys- 
tematic works and are intended, it is presumed, only 
for the serious student. No better introduction to the 
biological problems of variation can be found than 
Darwin's Origin of Species. The articles of Pearson 
and others published in Biometrika will be interesting 
to those interested in the mathematical aspects of 
variation. Some of the best literature of individual- 
ity was written without intention to throw light upon 
its scientific problems. The reading of biography will 
be an excellent accompaniment to observation and ex- 
periment. Autobiographies like Herbert Spencer's, 
and such books as Amiel's Journal, the Confessions of 
Rousseau, the Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff are ex- 



SCIENCE OF INDIVIDUALS 11 

cellent portrayals of types of human character. 
Books that contain studies of national characteristics 
are helpful. Fiction is valuable but to a less degree, 
for though its characters may be vivid they are often 
untrue to nature. The study in detail of the work of 
anyone who has expressed himself freely in any artis- 
tic or literary form, is a study in personality. Books 
and articles that pertain directly to the study of in- 
dividuals are numerous; they are written in many 
languages and from many points of view. A few 
that seem most important or that are most readily 
accessible will be mentioned in connection with special 
topics. 

II 

INDIVIDUAL-STUDY AS A SCIENCE 

The study of individuals appears to be one 
of the great scientific problems of the day, 
related to and involved in the work of various 
sciences, that have for their purpose the in- 
vestigation of man. There are many special 
problems of individuality, but the whole sub- 
ject can be brought for discussion under four 
general topics: (1) The description of individ- 
uals, including analysis of the organism into 
its variables and the measure of these variables 
and the correlation among them; (2) Study of 
the causes and conditions of differences among 
individuals such as heredity and environment, 
and the study of the genesis of traits in the 
individual and the race; (3) Diagnosis of in- 



12 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

dividuals, that is, the development and use of 
methods of testing individuals to discover their 
characteristics, abilities, and standing; (4) Ap- 
plication of these results to the practical treat- 
ment of individuals; that is, the development 
of an individual pedagogy, using the term in a 
wide sense. 

The first, or central, problem of individuality 
is the descriptive, a problem that is likely to 
engage the interest of investigators for a long 
time to come. There are already many con- 
flicting standpoints, for the individual is a 
meeting place of many interests. A complete 
descriptive science of the individual must in- 
clude : 

(1) Analysis and measurement of the in- 
dividual regarded as a complex of variable 
traits ; the establishment of norms or standards 
for each of these traits or elements and the man- 
ner of variability of the traits about their norms. 
This must include the study of both mental 
and physical traits. If psychology and physi- 
ology were sufficiently advanced so that these 
elements were known this problem would be 
comparatively simple, but this is by no means 
the case, and it is possible that the general 
sciences of psychology and physiology will 
never supply this want. The problem of 
description is still further complicated by the 
manner in which variables enter into apparently 
inextricable combinations with each other. 



SCIENCE OF INDIVIDUALS 13 

Always therefore with the isolation and meas- 
urement of the elements must go investigation 
of the relations between them, of the manner 
in which they are coordinated to produce com- 
binations or types. 

(2) It has already been shown that this 
method of approaching the study of individual- 
ity is not entirely satisfactory; partly because 
the analysis of the individual into elements and 
the measurement of the elements is an ideal not 
to be reached in actual practice, but also be- 
cause this method of study leaves out of account 
entirely some of the most distinguishing traits 
of individuality. Methods must be devised for 
studying the individual from the standpoints 
of practical life, and of the sciences of ethics 
and sociology. The essential variables of 
those qualities of the individual that represent 
or constitute his values in relation to his fel- 
lows must be discovered, and methods devised 
for observing and completely describing them. 

(3) The life history of the individual must 
be described; that is, he must be studied from 
the biographical point of view, with reference 
to the most determining events of his life. For 
this point of view, too, there is as yet but im- 
perfect preparation in the general sciences of 
human life. Something can be derived from 
ethics, from the study of religion, and social 
science, but all must be adapted to the study of 
individuals. The essential events of the lives of 



14 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

individuals must be determined with reference 
to the meaning of life as a whole so far as we 
can know it from our limited human outlook 
upon it. This in a sense is the metaphysical 
attitude toward the problem of individuality. 

A second step always follows the descriptive 
phase of a science; the explanatory. The sec- 
ond problem of individuality is the investiga- 
tion of the relations of differences among hu- 
man beings to other facts, and to other laws. 
This means a study of the causes of differences, 
the working of the laws of evolution, genesis, 
and variability to determine how they produce 
types and differences, in what direction differ- 
entiation of types is proceeding, the effects of 
environment, the relations of genesis of traits in 
the individual and in the race. The develop- 
ment of characteristics in children must be 
observed and recorded ; the forces that have pro- 
duced differentiation must be studied in retro- 
spect by the adult. Finally the whole subject 
must be interpreted in the light of the unified 
views of life that are obtained in the philosophic 
and other sciences. 

The third problem of individuality — the 
diagnostic — involves the application of knowl- 
edge derived from descriptive and explanatory 
studies of individuality to the definite practical 
study of particular individuals. When types 
and varieties are known, and norms established, 
and the relative importance of characteristics, 



SCIENCE OF INDIVIDUALS 15 

and their dependence upon one another are de- 
termined, methods must then he devised for 
discovering the essential traits of any individ- 
ual as quickly and as simply as possible, in 
order to understand in a practical way, his abil- 
ities and values, to predict reasonably his 
future, and to have a basis for rationally con- 
trolling his life. That such a diagnostic of in- 
dividuality must wait for the development of 
description and explanation seems inevitable; 
yet in a way this is the most pressing of the 
problems of individuality. It is the task that 
has often been taken up in mental-test schemes 
and other methods of diagnosing individuality, 
all of which have failed or have been unsatis- 
factory largely because they have made the 
error of supposing that the characteristics 
which they attempted to test were better known 
than they actually were. This is precisely the 
problem of the old phrenology, which divided 
the individual into a score or two of definite 
traits, and tried to determine the degree in 
which he possessed each of these traits by ob- 
serving the size of the skull compartment in 
which they were supposed to be represented. 
The scheme was very simple, but it ignored the 
fact that even the most fundamental traits were 
but imperfectly known and that they must be 
known before the individual could be tested. 
Other attempts to make practical systems of 
diagnosis like palmistry, chirography, and as- 



16 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

trology (which pretends to find the signs of 
character not in the individual himself, but 
in the stars) are to a greater extent guilty 
of the same errors. Eventually there will be 
a diagnostic that will be both scientific and 
practical. When characteristics are sufficiently 
well known simple methods for studying those 
that are most central to individuality can 
probably be devised. Whether the ideal of a 
short, perfectly simple, and accurate means of 
measuring or psychographing an individual 
will ever be reached it is difficult to say. Any 
such system would, in the nature of the case, be 
a makeshift, a substitute for more detailed 
knowledge, but it is likely that in time it will 
be possible, by a fairly brief examination, to 
discover the most essential traits of a person, 
and that the methods will be simple enough to 
be applied generally in practical examinations 
for all kinds of advancement and appointment, 
and for various uses of education and medicine. 
The fourth problem is the practical one of 
applying knowledge of individuality in general 
and the result of tests to the practical control 
of individuals. There are two problems in- 
volved: (1) To discover or to decide upon that 
which it is desired to accomplish for an indi- 
vidual, decisions that are determined partly by 
knowledge about the individual, and partly by 
the ideals- of the society in which he lives; (2) 
To discover the best means of reaching the de- 



VARIATIONAL METHOD 17 

sired end, that is to construct an individual 
pedagogy. Both of these problems are inter- 
related in various ways with the problems of 
general pedagogy, but they are also individ- 
ual, and must be treated with reference to 
the facts of variability among human individ- 
uals. 

Such, briefly stated, is the ideal of the science 
of individual-study. Every science tends to 
pass through stages similar to those men- 
tioned ; descriptive, explanatory, and finally the 
stage of application and practice. These steps 
represent, it is true, an ideal course of pro- 
cedure. Actually, the process is more complex 
and confused, for the advancement of a science 
is not determined by a consensus of opinion, 
but progress is made by more or less detached 
and independent efforts. In a general way, 
however, a science proceeds from the descrip- 
tive stage to the explanatory, and then to the 
practical. 



Ill 

THE VAKIATIONAL METHOD 

The descriptive problem has been shown to 
be the central problem of the study of indi- 
viduality. Individuals must be described be- 
fore the causes of their differences can be 
understood, or practical consequences deduced. 



18 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

Individual-study is also seen to be more than 
a mere observing of superficial traits of body 
and mind. The individual as a whole must 
be studied in all his aspects, from the stand- 
point of all the sciences that deal with human 
nature, and from all these sciences methods 
must be drawn and modified to meet the special 
requirements of application to the study of in- 
dividuals. It so happens that in nearly all the 
sciences of human nature a strong current of 
interest has turned, in recent years, in the di- 
rection of the variational or individual problem. 
The recent interest in numerical problems of 
biology, which has become an important phase 
of that science, will illustrate the general trend. 
Variability is being measured not only for all 
important traits of the human body, but of 
plants and animals. Almost all the conspicu- 
ous traits of the human body have already been 
so treated, and the method has even been ap- 
plied to some mental characteristics. Pearson 
thinks that all traits, when accurately enough 
measured, and a sufficient number of cases are 
taken, will show variation around a norm, ac- 
cording to the law of probability, and that dis- 
continuous variation and types are, for the 
most part, due to insufficient number of cases, 
inexact methods, or imperfect analysis of the 
characters to be studied: that discontinuous 
variation, if it exists at all, is so infrequent 
that it can be neglected in theory. He thinks, 



VARIATIONAL METHOD 19 

too, that every idea of Darwin, such as varia- 
tion, natural selection, sexual selection, inherit- 
ance, prepotency, reversion, seems capable of 
exact mathematical definition and statistical 
treatment. 

The anatomical problems of variability are 
much further advanced than others and we now 
have a fairly good numerical account of the 
main features of the external configuration of 
the body : some work has also been done in the 
study of variability of internal organs, and the 
correlation of one organ with another. Meas- 
urement of the body has been a problem of 
interest to two different classes of workers, bi- 
ologists and anthropometrists, the latter work- 
ing especially in the interest of practical appli- 
cation of measurements to the physical train- 
ing of youth, and also studying racial differ- 
ences. 

In physiology, work along variational lines 
is less advanced although many studies have 
been made of the more accessible functions, such 
as respiration, circulation, metabolism, temper- 
ature, tonus rhythms in muscles, rapidity of 
nerve impulse, secretion and excretion. 

Pathologists naturally approach their prob- 
lems with some conception of types and varia- 
tion. Already, true variational methods and 
conceptions are beginning to change the meth- 
ods of studying disease and of regarding 
disease processes. There is a growing change 



20 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

of viewpoint in the direction of regarding the 
variation of physiological functions from the 
normal rather than the presence of germs or 
disease processes as the main factor in the pro- 
duction of diseases. On this consideration the 
constitution of the individual as a whole, and 
his life history are taken into account, rather 
than the habits and life history of the germ, or 
the microscopical examination of the patho- 
logical process. Individuals must be studied, 
in order to satisfy this new turn in pathological 
research; they must be regarded as members 
of a group, as a sum of variables capable of 
departing in all degrees from a norm or aver- 
age. So in branches of medicine like psychi- 
atry we hear much about the physiological 
activity of cells, changes in irritability, causing 
cells to act more slowly or more sensitively, 
and in other fundamental characteristics of 
living matter. Pathologic types are explained 
as the result of departures from the norm in 
the few elementary variables, and in the man- 
ner of their combination. 

Other organs and functions of the body than 
the nervous system are coming to be regarded 
in this same way. Kraus and Martius, for ex- 
ample, have been studying types of efficiency 
of heart and stomach; and thoughtful physi- 
cians look forward to the time when a complete 
description of a man in terms of functional 
efficiency of his parts or physiological systems, 



VARIATIONAL METHOD 21 

including his conscious adaptations, will be pos- 
sible. The great advantage of such a concep- 
tion for the physician is obvious; it would 
enable him to study in cases small departures 
from normal activity, to trace the development 
of individuals toward abnormal functioning, 
and to understand in their origin and as they 
appear in small departures those disease types 
that later appear in pronounced form. This 
would include the study of those diatheses that 
are the foundations of physical diseases, and 
the types of constitution that result in mental 
disease: such as the psychasthenic, neuras- 
thenic, hypochondriacal, hysterical, epileptic, 
the deterioration type, the maniacal, paranoiac. 

Within psychology proper the development 
toward what has been called the variational 
method or study of individual differences has 
appeared in many departments; though the 
studies are as yet fragmentary and the actual 
results meager, and there is wide divergence 
among psychologists in their conception of the 
whole problem, there is here the clearest notion 
of a science of individual-study, and the most 
promising state of interest. The following 
chapter will relate, in some detail, the history 
and present status of the variational method in 
the field of general psychology. 

The same method of attacking problems is on 
the increase also in the special psychological 
and philosophical sciences. In the science of 



22 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

religion comparative methods are being used, 
not only in the study of racial types of religious 
beliefs, but in the investigation of varieties of 
religious experience among individuals. In 
ethics, too, similar lines of attack are appearing. 

In ethnology the study of differences in traits 
among races of mankind necessarily adopts the 
conceptions of variability; the ethnologist is 
particularly interested in discovering those 
traits that are least variable, and so of most 
value in classifying the human species into 
varieties. 

In sociology the problems of variability are 
at the front. Questions of the formation of 
national types, the study of traits of various 
social and economic groups require the concep- 
tion of the problem that has been called the 
variational, and the interpretation of the facts 
in accordance with the general laws of evolu- 
tion. Besides these normal groups, the crim- 
inal, and the socially defective generally, must 
be studied as members of a variational series 
rather than merely as diseased or abnormal 
persons. The victims of alcohol, the unfit, and 
the vicious of all kinds must so be considered. 

Thus it is seen that all through the sciences 
that deal with human nature the biological con- 
ception of variability applies, and that methods 
are being worked out which, though specially 
applicable to the use of special scientific prob- 
lems, have a common ground. These methods 



VARIATIONAL METHOD 23 

need to be brought together and considered 
with reference to their applicability to the study 
of individuals as such in a systematic manner. 

The methods that have thus far been applied 
to the study of individuals can be grouped into 
four classes: (1) Medical and physiological 
methods; (2) Anthropological methods; (3) 
Psychological methods; (4) General observa- 
tion and pedagogical methods. 

From the medical interest in individuals a 
science of diagnosis has arisen that has gradu- 
ally been extended into new subjects, until now 
the medical methods of examining individuals 
form one of the most scientific aspects of the 
subject. Chemical and physiological methods 
have been worked out for measuring and test- 
ing physical functions, some of them adapted 
merely to discovering the presence or absence 
of disease, others suitable for testing normal 
functions, and measuring variability. Medical 
diagnosis has extended to the mental life, and 
the study of types of mental disease and defi- 
ciency has led to more or less complete sche- 
mata for the study of the normal mental life, 
especially the temperament, the emotions, and 
habits. A thorough medical examination now, 
at its best, includes a broad examination of an 
individual and comprises investigation of both 
mental and physical functions. 

From the anthropologists have come methods 
for exact measurement and description of physi- 



24 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

cal conformation, and of some mental traits 
that are distinctive of racial types. Anthropo- 
metrists have developed and refined these 
methods and applied them to the problem of 
physical diagnosis and to the measurement of 
development of normal and abnormal individ- 
uals. 

Psychologists have supplied many methods 
for the study of individuals. Their first at- 
tempt was to devise a short series of tests or 
experiments based upon the divisions of mind 
made by analytic psychology, with the expecta- 
tion that these tests could be used in analyzing 
an individual completely enough for practical 
purposes. It was soon seen that these methods 
failed to strike at the essential traits of the 
individual, and attention was turned rather to 
the more complex functions, using methods in 
part new, and unknown in general psychology, 
and in part adapting methods of general psy- 
chology to the requirements for studying indi- 
vidual differences. This work has been par- 
tially successful in establishing methods that 
have some practical bearing and at the same 
time are exact enough for the purposes of 
scientific investigation. Meantime the whole 
problem of individuality has been seen in larger 
ways and now the aim of psychologists is to 
attack the problem systematically and to devise 
methods for a complete description of mental 
traits ; that is, to work out a science of psycho- 



VARIATIONAL METHOD 25 

graphy or descriptive method for the study of 
all those characteristics that can in any way 
come into consideration in the study of individ- 
uality. Materials for such a comprehensive 
methodology are scattered throughout the liter- 
ature of general psychology, and methods that 
have been used in general problems can readily 
be adapted in many cases to the study of in- 
dividual differences. Many of these methods 
require complicated apparatus, and such facili- 
ties as can be had only in a laboratory supplied 
with electrical equipment. 

Into a fourth group can be placed those meth- 
ods that have been employed in the study of 
individuals in the moral and social sciences, 
for the purposes of education, and also those 
methods that have been worked out from 
the standpoint of biography. They are largely 
observational methods and they are but little 
coordinated or developed, but they represent at- 
tempts to approach the study of the individual 
from those wide standpoints in which he is 
regarded in his social and ethical relationships, 
and as a unique person. 

All these various methods must eventually 
be incorporated into a descriptive science of 
individuality which, from the nature of the case, 
cannot be confined within the limits of any pres- 
ent science, for both mental and physical traits 
must be investigated, and no way of regarding 
individuality must be neglected in a complete 



26 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

descriptive scheme. Yet, for reasons that are 
readily discoverable, the study of individuality 
is more closely related to psychology than to 
any other science. In the past most of the the- 
oretical formulation of individual-study and 
most of the outlines for procedure have come 
from psychology. For this reason, it is impor- 
tant to trace at some length the history of 
individual or differential psychology; and 
finally to examine the claim of psychology to be 
the foundation of the science of individuality. 



rv 

STUDY OF INDIVIDUALITY WITHIN PSYCHOLOGY 

The history and present status of the prob- 
lems of variation and individuality within 
psychology need special attention, for it is in 
psychology, as has been said, that the problem 
of individuality seems to center. There has 
been, and is, in psychology great diversity of 
opinion with regard to the whole matter of 
individual-study. Over some of the funda- 
mental conceptions there is still confusion, and 
even plain contradiction. The main differences 
of attitude can be disclosed best by considering 
briefly the work of German, French, English, 
and American psychologists, with special refer- 
ence to the experimental investigation of differ- 
ences. 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS 27 

Exact work in differential psychology ap- 
pears to have begun with the work of Kraepelin 
and his school. Kraepelin was led to the study 
of normal mental differences by the study of 
insanity and nervous diseases. In order to 
analyze the constitution of certain types of 
defectives which he thinks are different at the 
very beginning of life, he is brought to the 
differential study of various traits of normal 
people. His study of the fatigue curve is an 
example of the method, and is an instance of ex- 
cellent results in the investigation of individual 
differences. He succeeded in isolating several 
factors of fatigue, each in itself independently 
variable, and in establishing norms and types, 
with which the abnormal can be compared. 

Oehrn's work, done in Kraepelin 's laboratory, 
was one of the earliest contributions to indi- 
vidual psychology, and was a product of the 
conception just referred to. His aim was to 
obtain norms for some of the common mental 
processes, such as letter counting, search for 
certain letters, learning of digits, marking in- 
correct spelling, adding of single place figures, 
writing from dictation, reading at maximal 
speed — and then to compute the relationship 
of these activities in the individual, and, if pos- 
sible, to discover mental types. Although the 
actual results were not so conclusive as could 
have been wished, the method itself seems to be 
promising. 



28 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

At the present time the most comprehensive 
study of individual differences in Germany is 
being made by Stern. He, too, approaches the 
subject from the standpoint of general psychol- 
ogy. The descriptive problem, he maintains, 
comes first; we must first find the differences 
before they can be studied in any other way. 
And in order to discover them a beginning must 
be made with the simplest mental functions 
such as have been discovered by general psy- 
chology; then variations in the working of 
simple psychological laws must be investigated ; 
the arrangement of simple elements into types, 
and the simple types into more complex types 
must next be known; and finally insight into 
individuality itself, which is a combination of 
types, must be obtained. It would be hoped 
that a few elementary variables could be found, 
the combination of which produces the complex 
differences of individuality. Two methods are 
allowable in investigating types: (1) By find- 
ing out how the elementary functions vary to- 
gether, new types will be discovered; (2) by 
analysis of such types as are already known, 
variables among elementary traits are to be 
discovered. There are many ways of approach- 
ing the whole problem of individuality, and 
among them, according to Stern, six promising 
methods: (1) Self -observation ; (2) observa- 
tion of others ; (3) study of literature ; (4) study 
of civilization; (5) syllabus method; (6) ex- 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS 29 

periment. The most promising of these, he 
thinks, is the method of experiment, and he 
proceeds to outline methods for the study of 
individuality based upon the achievements of 
general psychology; although, as he soon dis- 
covers, the methods of general psychology must 
be adapted to these special purposes. At some 
points present psychology seems to him to be 
adequate for the study of individual differ- 
ences ; at others it seems to be of little service. 
Turning to the study of individual psychol- 
ogy in France, a different point of view is 
found. The French literature of the subject is 
rich in attempts to classify characters, but these 
studies, for the most part, have not led to sys- 
tematic investigation. They have, however, 
determined apparently the standpoint of indi- 
vidual psychology in France. Paulhan's sys- 
tem of character-study needs, perhaps, special 
mention, though it represents the older deduct- 
ive kind of work, rather than the experimental. 
Paulhan bases his classification of characters 
upon principles of philosophy. An individual 
is made up of both concrete and abstract ele- 
ments. The concrete traits or elements are 
those to which descriptive adjectives are ap- 
plied : these elements combine according to 
psychological laws, and the combination of ele- 
ments accounts for the abstract elements. 
Characters are classified according to four 
main characteristics : (1) The degree of coher- 



30 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

ence of a character and the nature of the 
association among the elements; (2) the form 
of the elements and of the mind as a whole ; (3) 
the presence or absence of particular elements ; 
(4) the manner in which the elements act to- 
gether as a whole; their subordination one to 
another. 

Eibot also approaches the study of individual 
difference from the consideration of the indi- 
vidual as a whole. " There is more in the 
synthesis than in the analysis"; and the most 
distinguishing traits of an individual are just 
those balances of function that can never be 
reached by the study of elements. Therefore 
the methods of studying individuals are not 
the same as those employed in investigation 
of the problems of analytic psychology, but 
must be directed to the study of the more com- 
plex functions. 

Experimental psychology in France has fol- 
lowed out these suggestions, considering the 
individual as a whole rather than as a sum of 
items. By far the most important work is that 
of Binet and his school. They have been study- 
ing variability and correlation for many years, 
and have gradually been perfecting tests that 
they think will enable them to make a compre- 
hensive psychograph or mental diagnosis of an 
individual. Their method has been to study 
the traits that most characterize a person in 
actual life, in order to discover those central 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS 31 

variables with which other traits of the indi- 
vidual are connected. The order of procedure 
has been to study many qualities in one or a 
few persons, or a few qualities in a large group. 
Some of the results of these methods, for ex- 
ample Binet's comparative study of the intelli- 
gence of two children, are very valuable 
contributions to the psychology of mental dif- 
ferences. 

The psychological studies of individuality 
that have been made in England, and also in 
America, have been dominated or greatly in- 
fluenced by what may be called the phrenological 
idea; that is, the hope of finding some simple 
tests by which the individual may be measured 
and the result of which will stand for a descrip- 
tion of him adapted to practical use. Although 
phrenology did not originate in England, it 
seems to have taken firm root there and to have 
influenced some of the best thinkers; for ex- 
ample, Spencer, Mill, Bain, Wallace. All of 
these discuss the subject and Wallace maintains 
that the neglect of phrenology is one of the 
great sins of omission of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Both in England and America elabo- 
rates of the work of Gall and Spurzeim have 
made attempts to classify mental character- 
istics, and to show the interaction of traits in 
the formation of character. Sizer and Dray- 
ton's " Heads and Faces " is a good example of 
this kind of work. They begin with a modified 



32 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

form of the ancient doctrine of temperament, 
finding three great systems in the individual; 
the motive or mechanical, the vital, and the 
mental or nervous. They then proceed to de- 
scribe the characteristics of the temperaments 
in which these systems respectively predomi- 
nate. 

Mill, in his " Logic,' ' outlines a theory of 
ethology or science of character, dividing the 
subject into two parts: (1) Dynamic ethology, 
or the science of character forming; (2) static 
ethology, or the science of individual differ- 
ences. Galton has followed out both these lines 
of research and has contributed to the subject 
brilliant investigations of differences, their 
causes, and mathematical methods of treating 
data. 

The American studies in this field center 
about the problem of mental tests. Although 
considerable work has been done on this subject, 
the investigations have lacked coordination, and 
at present there are rather conflicting results. 
Nearly all the numerical results, both of Amer- 
ican and foreign investigators, are just now 
under the ban of higher mathematical criticism, 
for reasons soon to be mentioned. The Amer- 
ican studies include investigations like those of 
Gilbert, Cattell, Seashore, Thompson, Sharp, 
Miles, Thorndike, the World's Fair tests, 
Muensterberg 's tests — all dominated by the 
desire to obtain practical measurements of in- 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS 33 

dividuals. The difficulty that confronts this 
method is now well understood; the " simple " 
processes that are examined are themselves 
complex, and numerical results, when obtained, 
do not sufficiently represent psychological states 
or functions. When, therefore, attempts are 
made to study correlation among mental func- 
tions, the full difficulty comes to view. Eesults 
are conflicting, but nearly all investigators have 
failed to find much correlation among the func- 
tions that they have tested. Smith, for exam- 
ple, reporting in Thorndike's " Heredity, Cor- 
relation, and Sex Differences in School Abili- 
ties," studied the relations between abilities 
involved in grammar school subjects and found 
no great degree of correlation among them, 
or among the various abilities demanded in 
the same subject. Other studies by Thorndike 
and his pupils tend to show that the abilities 
used in school subjects are decidedly unrelated, 
independent and specialized. Seashore found 
but little correlation among traits; Bagley de- 
nies all correspondence between motor and 
mental abilities, except antagonistic relation- 
ships; the studies of Cattell, Farrand, and 
Wissler are negative, and Sharp found but 
little correlation in a long series of tests of 
various functions. 

Into the midst of this discussion now comes 
Spearman, with a remarkable investigation 
based upon mathematical methods of studying 



34 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

correlation, which tends to show that the failure 
to discover correlation among mental traits is 
due to lack of understanding of mathematical 
methods of handling data. His problem is the 
investigation of correlation between various 
kinds of sense discrimination, and general intel- 
ligence as represented by school work. He ex- 
amined small groups of school children, testing 
discrimination for sound, light, and weight. 
In estimating intelligence he used the ordinary 
school grades based upon examinations, the 
difference between each boy's rank in school 
and his rank in age, the common sense marked 
by the oldest pupil, the next oldest, and an 
adult. He then proceeded to estimate the cor- 
relations among these two series of gradings; 
that is, to measure the common element or fac- 
tor that enters into the ability to make sense 
discriminations, and the general intelligence. 
He proves that there is a factor common to 
all of the discrimination functions that were 
tested, and also a factor common to all the 
intelligences represented in the various methods 
of grading. Moreover, this common factor in 
all the discriminations coincides exactly with 
the common factor in all the intelligences. 
What this factor is, psychologically, he does 
not attempt to decide; it may be simple or it 
may be complex. 

If now Spearman's method is valid, there is 
decided correlation among mental abilities, and 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS 35 

the conclusions of many, especially among 
American investigators, are wrong. The chief 
contribution of the American differential psy- 
chology, and it is a considerable one, seems to 
be the experimental methods that have been de- 
vised or applied to the study of differences ; 
some of them no doubt crude, but serviceable in 
the long course of preliminary work that is yet 
to be done in the psychological investigation of 
individuality. 

The differences in standpoint that are found 
in the psychological studies of individuality, 
though somewhat perplexing, do not indicate 
lack of progress in the subject, nor a permanent 
state of contradiction. They seem for the most 
part due, not to mistakes and wrong concep- 
tions of the problem, but to the complexity of 
the subject. This is a condition that almost 
invariably arises at the beginning of a new de- 
velopment of science. The new problem proves 
to be larger than those who make the begin- 
nings perceive, and the narrow schematization 
that seems necessary at the outset soon gives 
way to a broader conception of the problem. 
Unexpected complications arise, and it is soon 
seen that many methods must be tried, and 
many preliminary investigations made, before 
exact work can be done, or a clear view ahead 
be seen. The study of individuality is in the 
stage of preliminary investigations, when we 
are just beginning to see that it is no mere 



36 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

problem, or branch, or method of psychology, 
but a broad field for scientific research that 
lies before us ; a field in which all methods must 
be made welcome, for the study of individuality 
is a meeting place of many sciences, and its 
attitude must therefore be cosmopolitan. 

REFERENCES 

There is as yet no complete summary of the history 
of individual psychology, but it must be studied in 
scattered articles in the psychological journals. Par- 
tial summaries of methods and pre-suppositions are 
contained in articles by Sharp, Huey, and more re- 
cently Spearman in the American Journal of Psychol- 
ogy. Ribot, Psychology of the Emotions can be 
consulted for some reference to French studies of char- 
acter and temperament. Spearman's Article on Gen- 
eral Intelligence (American Journal of Psychology, 
April, 1904), should be read. 



INDIVIDUAL-STUDY FROM THE BIOLOGICAL POINT OF 
VIEW 

The review of the present conceptions of in- 
dividual-study and its history demonstrates at 
least two facts: (1) that the study of individ- 
uality reaches beyond the limits of any one 
science; (2) that there is at present no concep- 
tion of the problem of individuality that is 



BIOLOGICAL HYPOTHESIS 37 

capable of bringing order among conflicting 
views, or of serving as a working hypothesis to 
unify the subject. Yet this seems to be neces- 
sary, if progress is to be made. 

It has been seen that most of the suggestions 
for a science of individuality have been derived 
from psychology ; and rightly, for it seems true 
that the mind of a man is the most essential 
part of his personality, and psychology has suc- 
ceeded in making at least a partial analysis 
of mind into its elementary processes. Some 
think, in fact, that the study of individuality 
is a branch or method of psychology. But this 
seems to be too narrow a view; for physical 
differences must be taken into account as well 
as mental differences. And besides, the study 
of mental traits does not belong entirely to psy- 
chology, for the individual is more than a com- 
plex of mental states and processes ; he is a self- 
conscious person, a social unit, a body-mind 
mechanism related to the whole history of the 
race. 

The question arises whether some point of 
view more fundamental may not be taken from 
which the subject of individual differences can 
be approached more broadly than by conceiving 
it as a psychological problem, yet in which psy- 
chology shall be the central viewpoint. If psy- 
chology is still to be retained as a basis for the 
study of the individual, is there any way of 
looking at psychological problems which will 



38 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

at the same time take into account the variation 
of physical traits and the relations of the indi- 
vidual to the history of the race and to the so- 
ciety to which he belongs ; in other words in ac- 
cordance with the conception of progress by 
variation? 

In accordance with this broader conception of 
individual-study, if it is possible to take it, the 
first principle that must be laid down is that 
body and mind have evolved together in the 
race and have developed together in the indi- 
vidual; that, therefore, both objective and 
subjective methods must be employed; that 
physical and mental facts are to be placed theo- 
retically upon equal terms. If such a psycho- 
physical standpoint' is accepted as a working hy- 
pothesis, other principles follow. It will be 
necessary to consider first the simple functions, 
both mental and physical, among the lowest 
forms of life, and to see how these elementary 
traits can vary. Even the single-celled animal 
carries on a life process in which all the higher 
processes are already represented. The single 
cell can vary in movement, form, growth, and 
reproductive processes. Processes of assimila- 
tion, respiration, circulation, elimination, and 
irritability appear at the outset. Naturally 
then one would look for fundamental variables 
among these simple functions. Here one would 
search for light upon the physiological basis 
of temperament, and other characteristics of 



BIOLOGICAL HYPOTHESIS 39 

the individual that are most obviously connected 
with physical traits. 

In the evolution of the race, the characteristic 
known as irritability soon emerges as a sig- 
nificant trait of the animal cell. It becomes 
pushed ahead by selection, becomes highly vari- 
able, and the seat of those distinctions and se- 
lections that are called psychical. When there- 
fore the higher traits of the nervous system 
and the mind are studied, we must try as far as 
possible to connect them with variations in 
fundamental processes, such as irritability^ 
which can reasonably be supposed to underlie 
them. In this way must be considered fatigue, 
recovery, reflex activity, and many qualities of 
the mental life, especially the more general 
characteristics of emotion, mental tonus, and 
mental tempo. Consciousness so considered is 
the reverse side of a complex of physiological 
traits; now we have a glimpse of the physical, 
now of the mental, but it must be remembered 
that the two series of facts belong together. 

The nervous system is essentially a mechan- 
ism by which impressions are coordinated for 
the purpose of producing movements. In its 
primitive form it is a sensori-motor cell in 
which the functions of sensation, or its phys- 
iological equivalent, and motion are carried on 
together. The two functions become separated 
and gradually increased in complexity by the 
interposition of connecting elements. But the 



40 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

type of action is not changed. However com- 
plex may be the functions of the human brain 
they are but the result of summation of the 
simplest reactions, and the highest conscious 
processes are not different in kind from the 
lowest. Complex differences in the psychic 
field must be interpreted as correlates of varia- 
tions in afferent-motor processes. 

The nervous system, then, is a mechanism 
for securing coordination in such a way that one 
element may act with another to cause a unit in 
function where morphologically there are sepa- 
rate structures. This is the type of all psycho- 
physical reactions, and it is secured in two ways 
in the individual; (1) by the development of in- 
nate coordinations; (2) by associations due to 
experience. Variable factors in these two fun- 
damental forms of coordination must be investi- 
gated therefore as a preparation for the classi- 
fication of differences in the higher processes of 
the mental life, and the higher processes must 
so far as possible be interpreted in terms of 
these fundamental variables. So understand- 
ing the mechanism of the nervous system in- 
dividuals can be studied with reference to the 
two types of coordination that have been de- 
scribed. 

In considering differences among individuals 
the native coordinations would be considered 
first, regarding the acts that result from them 
as primarily body-mind adjustments in situa- 



BIOLOGICAL HYPOTHESIS 41 

tions that are or have been practical in the 
development of the race. Here indeed is the 
central point of the theory of individual- study. 
The most practical point to observe is that on 
this consideration the most determining traits 
of individuality are to be sought, not in the 
higher sentiments and their manifestations in 
conduct, but in the simple reactions, the primary 
instinct-feelings; variations in which, if the 
biological hypothesis is correct, determine 
largely differences in the higher or more com- 
plex traits of the moral, religious, social, aes- 
thetic, and practical life. Many other traits 
of the individual such as characteristics of in- 
terest, attention, and habit must be examined 
also with reference to variability of the primary 
instincts, and it is reasonable to expect that 
when a few basic traits are thoroughly under- 
stood, many differences in human nature other- 
wise inexplicable will be explained. To what 
extent these differences will be referred to their 
physical correlates it is impossible to know ; but 
it is to be expected that many relationships be- 
tween these mental differences and underlying 
physical conditions will eventually be made out ; 
that differences in excitability of nerve tissue, 
in supply of blood to tissues, traits of metabo- 
lism and the like will be found correlated with 
differences that are discovered by subjective 
methods and by observation of activity. 
Coming now to the phase of consciousness 



42 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

that is represented by the acquired brain con- 
nection, we must begin again, if possible, with 
a central characteristic or elementary process, 
which seems to be associative connection. 
Again, it is the general characteristic of men- 
tal habit, rather than content of consciousness 
which must be examined for clues to the most 
determining mental differences. The simple 
reaction arc, that is made up of impression, 
movement, and return of the impression must 
be examined to detect its essential variables, 
regarding it as a practical function, and the 
type of all mental activity. We need not follow 
out the details of this process of associative 
connection, and the manner in which the se- 
lective process that is inherent in it gradually 
produces a connected stream of consciousness 
in the individual, and directs it to practical 
ends, but it is sufficient to point out that the 
central problem of intellectual differences is 
the analysis of this process of associative con- 
nection into its variable elements, and to trace 
the connection between the more complex dif- 
ference in mental activity and these. Only 
when, on this hypothesis, the explanatory 
powers of the simple principles fail need others 
be resorted to. 

This statement of the theory of mental dif- 
ferences is of course but the barest suggestion 
of an outline but it will serve the purpose of 
showing how an hypothesis can be constructed 



BIOLOGICAL HYPOTHESIS 43 

that shall take into account both the physical 
and mental aspects of individuality in the same 
conceptions. The proof of the value of such a 
working hypothesis would be found in the ac- 
tual use of it. That such a method is more 
comprehensive and better suited to the purpose 
of individual-study than that which is based 
upon analytic psychology there are many indi- 
cations. For this psycho-physical view exam- 
ines the individual as a whole, as a member of 
a biological series and in relation to the de- 
velopment of individuality in the race. It 
brings to the foreground and puts into their 
proper place the instincts and emotions, and 
makes the differences among their most gen- 
eral characteristics the foundation of person- 
ality; and it emphasizes the social and ethical 
aspects of individuality which are closely con- 
nected with the primary instinctive reactions. 
It connects also with those biographical methods 
which must be used for the description of the 
individual with reference to the most important 
events of his life ; for the events that are most 
determining in the life of an individual are 
those usually that profoundly affect some funda- 
mental emotion and its expression in conduct 
or interest. 

However one may approach the study of indi- 
viduality, whether for the purposes of scien- 
tific research or for practical ends, some means 
must be adopted for bringing the subject into 



44 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

order. This can be done only by considering 
the relations of the subject to the sciences on 
which it is based. It has been the aim of the 
preceding chapters merely to suggest these re- 
lations, and the attitude of mind one must take 
in considering how and why people differ 
from each other. Attention can now be turned 
to the actual methods that are to be used in 
studying these differences. 

REFERENCES 

References for reading in connection with this chap- 
ter would necessarily send one rather far afield in 
psychological literature. To understand the position 
of the naturalistic psychology upon which this view is 
based, one should read the articles on anger, fear, and 
other emotions by G. S. Hall, that have appeared from 
time to time in the American Journal of Psychology. 
The most systematic presentation of the subject is to 
be found in the works of J. Mark Baldwin ; especially 
Mental Development in the Child and the Race can be 
read. Chamberlain's The Child contains most of the 
facts. Royce's Outlines of Psychology is written 
from somewhat similar points of departure. An ar- 
ticle by Dewey, The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychol- 
ogy (Psychological Review Vol. Ill, 1896), contains 
the kernel of the psychological theory that has been 
worked out by Baldwin. James, Talks to Teachers is 
a more elementary treatment at least in part along 
the same lines. Kirkpatrick 's Genetic Psychology is 
a recent exposition of these topics. 



PKACTICAL STUDY OF INDIVIDUALS 



METHODS AND DIEBCTIONS 

In the preceding sections an outline has been 
given of a science of individuality and its 
relations to other branches of knowledge. It 
can readily be seen that the way to a deep un- 
derstanding of the problems of individual dif- 
ferences is a long one, but without some such 
preliminary study a proper perspective for the 
observation of individuals cannot be obtained. 
Yet individual pedagogy, like general pedagogy, 
considered as a practical art, stands in a pecul- 
iar relation to the scientific principles which 
underlie it. These practical arts cannot wait 
for sciences to be worked out: meantime indi- 
viduals must be dealt with in some way, just 
as it is necessary to act upon some educational 
philosophy, in the absence of one that is thor- 
oughly grounded in well-established principles. 
We do actually in our daily life study individ- 
uals, and we act upon the result of our observa- 
tions, with something like conviction of the 
reasonableness of our actions. If it is toler- 
able to act upon our superficial or natural 
judgments, we seem to be justified in taking also 
whatever partially worked out principles science 

47 



48 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

already offers, and the methods that are readi- 
est to hand, and may eke out our knowledge of 
individuals as best we can, make what hypoth- 
eses we are able about the causes of their dif- 
ferences, their significance and value, and the 
methods of dealing with them to the best in- 
terests of society and the individuals in it. 
Keeping the scientific ideals well fixed in mind, 
we can proceed to make as comprehensive a 
study of individuality as we can, and we have 
a right to call such study practical if by it 
power to understand individuals is increased, 
or if some reasonably safe conclusions are 
reached that can be applied to practical af- 
fairs. This is exactly the position the prac- 
ticing physician finds himself in; in want of a 
complete and accurate method of making diag- 
nosis, he must do the best he can, and proceed 
to act upon his conclusions. The clearer his 
conception of the ideals of his science, and the 
greater his experience with huma.n nature, the 
greater his skill in diagnosis and treatment will 
be likely to be. 

The methods of study and observation that 
are to be described apply especially to children 
of school age, and the point of view taken is 
for the most part the practical or pedagogical. 
The aim is to obtain as wide a knowledge of 
children as possible, including both physical and 
mental traits, using methods that require no 



PRACTICAL METHODS 49 

apparatus, or but the simplest, and whenever 
possible to suggest application of the knowl- 
edge that is gained to the problems of school 
and home. 

For several reasons children from about eight 
or nine to eleven or twelve years of age are 
best for practice study of differences and types. 
Younger children are difficult to manage in ex- 
periments; they cannot introspect well, and 
they cannot write fluently. Older children are 
likely to have entered the adolescent period 
and to have undergone changes that tend to 
obscure for a time their permanent traits ; and 
they have been modified by environment in a 
way still further to complicate the problem. 
A group of children of about fifty in number, 
having somewhat similar work in school, makes 
a suitable group from which to collect material 
for study and comparison of individuals. 

It is not likely that anyone will have oppor- 
tunity or desire to apply in detail all the meth- 
ods of study that are suggested, or to observe 
a large group of children for a long time, as 
would be necessary to obtain materials of suf- 
ficient exactness for certain application. But 
one can easily make selections from the tests 
suited to whatever time and opportunity can 
be found, and perhaps make a fairly compre- 
hensive study of a considerable number of chil- 
dren, that will have very practical results, and 



50 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

perhaps in exceptional cases be of the greatest 
service to those who are studied. Much of the 
experimental work is planned to be educational 
to the child as well as to the observer. It puts 
the mind to test in ways that seem new to the 
child, makes use of normal competition, and 
appeals to a natural desire on the part of the 
child to know more about his own standing and 
ability. Children can readily be made inter- 
ested in such tests, especially if apparatus is 
us°d, however simple it may be. 

If study of a group of children is to be carried 
on for a considerable time, it is well to provide 
for each child an envelope or other form of 
file large enough to contain many samples of 
his school work, and the records of experiments 
and observations that are made upon him. It 
is better to save too much than too little, and 
anything that is written or drawn by the child 
expresses his individuality in some way. 

In using these methods of observation and 
experiment in the training of teachers, it is 
probably best that the student should make as 
comprehensive a study as possible of one or per- 
haps two children; if two, children somewhat 
different in type should be chosen. These chil- 
dren must constantly be studied in comparison 
with the whole group, for it is for the most 
part by building up standards by observing the 
many that the one can be understood. All the 
facts that can be obtained about a child must 



PRACTICAL METHODS 51 

be studied together, in order to understand him 
as a whole or individual. For such study no 
exact methods can be given but much depends 
upon the student's power to see facts in relation 
to each other. 

If considerable attention is to be paid to nu- 
merical results, records of the whole group that 
can so be arranged should be spread upon a 
chart, in which the data relating to one child 
will appear in a line horizontally and the 
records for all the class in any one experiment 
will appear vertically in a column. By this 
means facts become readily accessible for com- 
parison, and for application of methods of cal- 
culation, if they are required. 

It is not supposed that data gathered under 
the practical limitations of the school will be 
exact enough so that standards can be com- 
puted that will be of service to other experi- 
menters, or that methods of studying correlation 
will usually be applied. There are however 
simple mathematical methods that can be 
applied to the study of correlation among the 
functions such as will be tested. Whenever in 
fact two traits or functions have been measured 
in such a way that the members of a group pos- 
sessing them can be graded in a series with 
regard to excellence or quantity of the quality 
tested, simple methods of calculation can be 
applied to express the degree of correlation 
between those traits. To understand these 



52 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

methods the work of Boas, Pearson, Wissler, 
and Spearman should be read. Although much 
of this literature is difficult and demands pa- 
tient study, for the most part it requires no 
knowledge of mathematics beyond that usually 
acquired in a secondary school. 



II 

EXAMINATION OF THE HEALTH 

Although the subject of diseases of children 
is a special science good health and poor 
health are such relative conditions, and bodily 
conditions and mental function are so closely 
dependent upon one another, that some knowl- 
edge of the most common affections of health 
is necessary for anyone that wishes to investi- 
gate individuality. Chronic conditions of ill- 
health and tendency to disease are so common 
in childhood that for practical reasons every 
child of school age should at least once each 
year be examined thoroughly by a competent 
physician. During the last few years there has 
been a growing conviction that the body of the 
child has been neglected in the school, and 
progress is now being made rapidly toward a 
school practice in which attention to the health 
will take a larger part. Thus far the best work 
has been done in testing sight and hearing, and 
in examining for some of the most prevalent 



EXAMINATION OF HEALTH 53 

diseases that directly affect the intelligence of 
the child, such as adenoids. The mentally de- 
fective and the morally delinquent children have 
lately received much attention and are in a fair 
way to be more skillfully treated than in the 
past. In many cities tests of the vision and 
hearing of all school children are made once 
or twice each year, and in some cases physical 
examinations are carried out. Some practical 
method is now needed of obtaining a reliable 
examination of the health of every child, and 
of so recording his physical standing that the 
information can be used as effectively in the 
school as the report of conduct and class stand- 
ing now is. Departments of hygiene and med- 
ical supervision, and departments of physical 
training are being introduced into school sys- 
tems here and there, and it is likely that soon 
more complete information about the health of 
children will be in the hands of teachers, and a 
better provision made for the care of the health. 
Parents will usually cooperate willingly in any 
plan that can be shown to them to be in the in- 
terest of their children's welfare and the ex- 
amination of health by school officials for the 
special purposes of the school could readily be 
made a part of the routine of education. In 
one city in which the experiment was tried a 
note was sent to parents requesting that per- 
mission be granted to examine their children. 
More than sixty per cent responded at once 



54 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

granting the request, and many showed much 
interest in the work. Many cases of defective 
health were discovered that were before un- 
known either to parent or teacher. In about 
one case in five of all the children that were ex- 
amined the health was found to be unsatisfac- 
tory. In many instances the causes of the 
physical inadequacy seemed to be obscure, and 
the need was constantly felt for opportunity to 
investigate more thoroughly and with the ad- 
vantage of exact methods and laboratory facil- 
ities. This was true especially of cases of 
nervous defect in which a single examination 
could give but a superficial knowledge. 

If the health of the child is to be examined 
some information must be obtained from the 
home pertaining to the history of the child and 
his heredity. Information about such topics as 
the following should be obtained and records 
made : — 

Are the near relatives of the child — grand- 
parents, parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and 
sisters — in good health! If not what is the 
nature of the deficiency in each case? If any 
have died what was the cause of death, and the 
age? Is there a marked tendency in the family 
to any disease, such as tuberculosis, nervous 
disease of any kind, rheumatism? Age of par- 
ents, number of children in the family and the 
age of each should also be known. 

In general has the health of the child been 



EXAMINATION OF HEALTH 55 

good? Has he ever been acutely ill, and if so 
with what disease? Does he frequently suffer 
from extreme fatigue or exhaustion, or show 
sign of nervousness? Are appetite, sleep, ex- 
cretory functions normal? 

If such information about the health of chil- 
dren is to be supplemented by examination by 
a physician some provision must be made for 
permanent records, and there should be printed 
blanks provided, to serve as a guide for the 
examiner, and to make the information uniform 
and readily accessible. 

The medical examination would include ob- 
servation about the general condition of the 
child, tests of respiration and circulation, ex- 
amination of the abdominal organs, of the nerv- 
ous system, observations for physical defects, 
tests of vision and hearing, examination of nose 
and throat. 

Some of the conditions that the physician will 
frequently find are : General delicacy without 
definite disease, tendency to tuberculosis (as 
shown by enlarged glands, eye troubles, dis- 
charging ears), muscular weakness usually ac- 
companied by round shoulders and protruding 
abdomen, various forms of nervous weakness 
and disorder, chorea, adenoid growths, enlarged 
tonsils, chronic inflammation of nose and throat, 
weakness of the lungs, irregular or overacting 
heart, heart disease, rheumatism, chronic skin 
disease, chronic indigestion, defective nutrition, 



56 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

curvature of the spine and other physical ab- 
normalities, defects of vision and hearing. On 
the whole, school life is a time of tendencies 
and constitutional weaknesses rather than of 
actual disease and the problems of diagnosis 
are therefore delicate and difficult. The ideal 
school physician is a man of broad experience in 
diagnostic work, and in the diseases of child- 
hood. If the work is to be exact and thorough, 
laboratory facilities must be had for such work 
as the examination of secretions and excretions, 
blood analysis, and for exact methods for the 
study of the nervous system. The school in 
fact presents its own peculiar problems of diag- 
nosis different from those of the clinic and 
general practice, and the work of the school 
physician needs special preparation, and special 
laboratory equipment such as is not yet gener- 
ally available. 

The most important part of the medical ex- 
amination from the standpoint of the school, 
and the part that is most likely to be as yet 
puzzling to the general practitioner is the ex- 
amination of the nervous and mental condition 
of the child. The school physician would be 
expected to give special attention to this sub- 
ject. He would examine not only for the more 
common organic diseases that are seen in hos- 
pital and clinical work, but he would especially 
be on the lookout for neurotic conditions of all 
kinds, tendencies toward abnormal mental and 



EXAMINATION OF HEALTH 57 

moral life, fatigue, eccentricity, and the like. 
He would aim to estimate the capacity and 
resistance of the child with reference to the 
work of the school. His examination would in- 
clude enquiry into the habits and interests of 
the child, particularly in the case of very bright 
and very dull children, and all that appear in 
any way exceptional, either physically or men- 
tally. Such work at the present time does not 
entirely fall within the interests or abilities of 
the ordinary practicing physician, and the ex- 
act study of the mental life of the child, from 
the standpoint of medicine, is the special work 
of the alienists, and even with them it is in its 
pioneer stage. 

If expert assistance can be had in testing 
vision and hearing it should always be em- 
ployed. If not, the ordinary tests that can be 
made by anyone after a little practice are de- 
cidedly better than nothing. It should be un- 
derstood, however, that such tests are but ap- 
proximately accurate, and that they are never 
to be regarded as final. These tests of vision 
do not discover all the defects of eyesight and 
it does not necessarily follow that a child should 
wear glasses if the vision is not normal. A 
record of defective vision however does call 
for further investigation by more exact meth- 
ods, and such examination should never be neg- 
lected. The best chance of a correct diagnosis 
of the cause of defective vision and satisfactory 



58 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

correction of it is at the hands of a medical 
specialist in eye diseases, an oculist. Some op- 
ticians are now experienced and well equipped 
with accurate appliances for measurement of 
the eye, and a good optician is better than a 
bad oculist. Tests of large numbers of chil- 
dren in several cities by means of the Snellen 
card or similar device shows that about one 
school child in live has subnormal vision, and 
needs therefore expert diagnosis by someone 
competent to decide about treatment of the dif- 
ficulty. 

In order that records may have value there 
should be recorded in every case; name of the 
child, age in years and months, sex, grade, 
school, date of examination, vision of right eye, 
vision of left eye. Note should also be made if 
the child wore glasses in the test and if there 
have been frequent headaches, inflammation of 
the eyes, pain, or strain, in looking or reading, 
these facts should be entered. The test is usu- 
ally made by the Snellen card, which can be 
obtained from any dealer in optical goods. It 
should be hung in good light, not in direct sun- 
light, and the light should not shine into the 
eyes of the child but should come from the side 
or back. One eye of the child should be covered 
but not closed while the other is being tested. 
In testing the child is to read the letters on 
the card beginning with the largest, and reading 
the lines one after another. The best distance 



EXAMINATION OF HEALTH 59 

at which to place the child is twenty feet from 
the card. The last line that can be read easily 
should be recorded. The method of notation is 
to make the distance at which the child stands 
the numerator of a fraction and the distance 
at which the last line that is read should be 
read the denominator. Thus if the child stands 
at twenty feet and reads the line that should be 
read by the normal eye at that distance the 
vision will be recorded as f#. If he reads 
only so far as the line that should be read at 
30 feet the vision will be recorded as §#. 
The record should be made for each eye. 
Twenty-twentieths is normal vision; anything 
less than that is abnormal vision. 

The hearing of school children has been stud- 
ied by experts, and although the methods are 
not quite so exact nor so easily practiced as 
tests of vision they are practicable for the 
teacher, if a little study is given to them. 
There are several forms of audiometer that 
can be purchased from the instrument maker 
but fairly accurate tests of hearing can be made 
with a watch, preferably a stop watch; or with 
a little more practice, with the voice. 

In the watch test the child stands with the 
side turned toward the experimenter. An as- 
sistant, or failing that the child himself, holds 
the end of a tape line close to the face below 
the ear. With the other hand he presses a 
handkerchief to the ear not in use. The watch 



60 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

is held close enough to the ear to be distinctly- 
heard and is then slowly withdrawn until a 
point is reached at which it is no longer heard. 
It can then be held at a distance quite out of 
range of hearing and slowly brought nearer 
until it is heard. By starting and stopping the 
watch several times while it is held at this po- 
sition the correctness of the result can be con- 
firmed. In making the record the standard to 
be used is the record of some one known by 
more accurate tests or otherwise to have nor- 
mal hearing. For the numerator the distance 
at which the watch is heard by the child is used ; 
for the denominator the distance at which it 
can be heard by the standard or normal ear. 
Each ear should be tested separately. Note 
should be made of frequent earache or dis- 
charge from the ear. Deafness is often inter- 
mittent or variable and usually a single test 
is not enough to establish the existence of good 
hearing. 

Better than the watch test because it tests 
hearing over a wider range of tones is the voice 
method. The examination is made under the 
same conditions as in the watch experiment. 
If the whisper is used the experimenter first 
takes a deep breath and then breathes out as 
much as possible, holding the breath thus while 
whispering. With a little practice the test can 
be made with a fair degree of accuracy. For 
the ordinary purposes of the unpracticed ob- 



EXAMINATION OF HEALTH 61 

server it is likely that tests with low spoken 
tones are capable of giving quite as good results. 
The child repeats after the experimenter each 
word that is spoken to him moving away until 
he can no longer repeat accurately. The value 
of the records depends upon the uniformity 
of the tests, and the conditions under which 
experimenting is done. 

Such an account as the above of methods of 
examining the health of a child can of course 
afford but a glimpse into the vast subject of 
medical diagnosis; a subject which comprises 
several well-defined branches of science, and 
which is now pursued by the refined and exact 
methods of the laboratory in ways that can be 
fully understood only after specialization in 
these sciences. In practical work the greatest 
service of the amateur is to be qualified to 
detect indications of disease, and to direct the 
child to the proper persons for expert study 
and if necessary, treatment. Little has been 
said about mental abnormalities and diseases 
of childhood, but in the following chapters some 
of their signs will be examined. Below is given 
a report-form that can be used for the work of 
preliminary examinations of health: and also 
a special report-form for laboratory examina- 
tions of eye, ear, nose, and throat. They will 
show the ground that is usually covered in such 
examinations. 



62 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 



REPORT OP MEDICAL EXAMINATION 

Name Sex Age School Grade 

Birthplace Nationality F M Age of parents F M 

Age of brothers and sisters B S 

Heredity and health of family 

Personal history 

Height Weight State of nutrition 

Pulse, Rate Characteristics Respiration rate, etc., 

Temperature 

Chest 

Lungs Inspection 

Measurements Inspiration Expiration 

Auscultation 

Percussion 
Heart Percussion 

Auscultation 
Abdominal organs 

Nervous system Coordination Reflexes Movements 
Muscular development 

Skin Physical conformation 

Direction to pathologist and special examiner. 
Summary. Is health excellent, good, fair, poor, seriously 
deficient? Is there any marked disease or tendency to disease, 
and if so what are the present indications of its development? 
Does the child need medical or surgical treatment? 

Directions to teacher or parent. 
Date Examiner 



SPECIAL EXAMINATION, 
Eyes R 

Vision 
Myopia 
Hyperopia 
Astigmatism 
Ophthalmoscope and remarks R 



EXAMINATION OF HEALTH 63 

Ears 

Watch 

Voice 

Tuning fork 

Membrana tymphana, Eustachian tube, and remarks 
R L 

Nose 
Throat 

Does the child need medical advice or treatment? 
Remarks to teacher or parent 
Date Examiner 

REFERENCES 

L. E. Holt: Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. 
This is a large medical work written especially for 
medical students and physicians, but the general 
reader will find it a valuable source book in the sub- 
ject of children's diseases. 

B. Sachs: A Treatise on The Nervous Diseases of 
Children. Also a technical medical work but valuable 
for reference. 

W. W. Ireland : Mental Affections of Children. A 
good introduction to the subject of mental diseases. 

L. G. Guthrie: Functional Nervous Disorders in 
Childhood. 

W. L. McKenzie : The Health of the School Child. 

E. S. Talbot: Degeneracy, its Causes, Signs, and 
Results. A detailed study of degeneracy in the hu- 
man mind and body. 

Francis Warner: The Children; How to Study 
Them — and other books by the same author. 

S. H. Rowe : Physical Nature of the Child. 

Culick and Ayres : Medical Inspection of Schools. 

E. A. Kirkpatrick: Some Simple Methods of Rec- 



64 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

ognizing Physical Fitness and Unfitness of School 
Children. Addresses and Proceedings of the National 
Educational Association, 1905, pp. 760-766. 



Ill 

OBSERVATION OF BODY CHARACTERISTICS 

A chapter in the study of individuality that 
has as yet hardly been entered upon in a 
scientific manner is the analysis and descrip- 
tion of physical traits, and the determination 
of their relation to mental characteristics. 
This is in part the problem of the old phrenol- 
ogy which tried to read character from the 
shape of the head alone, and of other pseudo- 
sciences such as physiognomy and palmistry 
that attempt the same task from observation of 
face and hand. All of these methods, it has 
already been seen, have failed to yield results 
at all trustworthy. But that there is a relation 
between physical form and mental trait there 
is no doubt, for our practical estimations of 
people are derived in part at least from judg- 
ments that are based upon the recognition of 
such fixed relationships. Not only are normal 
mental and physical traits thus related but al- 
ready there is promise of discovery of relations 
between types of physical conformation and dis- 
ease or tendency to disease and to criminality. 
This whole subject of relation of physical con- 



BODY CHARACTERISTICS 65 

formation to mental trait is yet to be put onto 
a scientific basis, and we have among the recog- 
nized sciences no successor to the old phrenol- 
ogy, except such beginnings as are being made 
by the anthropometrists. 

The best attempt thus far to analyze the 
human face and figure seems to be that of Ber- 
tillon. The study was made in the course of 
devising a system of marking for the identifica- 
tion of criminals, and it is therefore somewhat 
special; but it furnishes some excellent sug- 
gestions for a more general study of individ- 
uals. The Bertillon system describes minutely 
the eye and the ear, and somewhat less in detail 
the other parts of the face and figure. Most 
of the suggestions that are given below for ob- 
servation of the body are based upon the Ber- 
tillon method. Many of the traits that are to 
be observed are not in the present stage of our 
knowledge indications that can be used in diag- 
nosing the traits of mental life, but a systematic 
observation of differences in physical conforma- 
tion will train the observer of individuals in 
ways that will prove practical. 

Observation of the body can begin with notic- 
ing the shape and size of the head. Is it large 
or small compared with the size of the body? 
Wide or narrow? Long or short? Has it any 
marked peculiarities of outline? The head 
should be observed from several points of view, 
all its outlines studied, and if possible sketched. 



66 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

In this way, by making comparative observa- 
tions upon a large group of children, standards 
will be established in mind that will serve as a 
basis of more exact work. Great variability 
will be found in the contours of the head, and 
many points for observation. 

Qualities of the hair are regarded as impor- 
tant indications from the ethnological stand- 
point. Such traits as the following can be 
noticed: Color; blond, yellow, brown (light or 
dark), red, black. Is it straight, curly; abun- 
dant, thin; coarse, fine; lustrous, dull? 

Skin. Is the amount of yellow pigment in 
the skin great or little? Is the sanguinity (the 
red coloring) great, little? Qualities of skin 
are indications, not only of temperament, but of 
condition of health. Its firmness, elasticity, 
smoothness, moisture, odor, color, warmth, fine- 
ness of texture all vary, and these qualities 
should be observed. 

Face. Is it large or small compared with the 
size of the body as a whole? Is it wide, nar- 
row? Seen in profile, what is the direction and 
contour of an imaginary line drawn from the 
forehead to a point where the upper lip joins 
the nose, and from there to the point of the 
chin? Estimate the angle between two imag- 
inary lines, one drawn from the center of the 
opening of the ear to the point where nose and 
upper lip are joined, and the other from the 
last named point to the front of the forehead. 



BODY CHARACTERISTICS 67 

Study of this angle in many children will show 
that in a well-developed child the angle is usu- 
ally a right angle, or nearly that, and the line 
from forehead to chin is nearly a straight line. 
A small facial angle and a strongly curved 
facial line may accompany a low degree of men- 
tal development. 

Other traits of the face, such as the following, 
can be recorded: Forehead; high, low, verti- 
cal, sloping, broad, narrow. Contours of 
mouth, nose, chin, lips, ears, can be analyzed 
and described in a similar manner. Teeth 
should be observed particularly. They may be 
large, small, regular, irregular, vertical, pro- 
jecting. 

In the Bertillon system the eyes are minutely 
described, for the eye is so variable and so 
complex that an accurate description of it is 
sufficiently characteristic of an individual to be 
a means of almost certain identification. Eyes 
are classified according to the presence or ab- 
sence of yellow coloring matter in them, as pig- 
mented and unpigmented eyes. The ground 
color of the eye, the color that is always present 
at birth, is blue; over this, covering it wholly 
or in part, a pigmented layer develops in some 
eyes. Both classes contain many varieties. 
Pigmented eyes may be yellow, orange, chest- 
nut, brown, or maroon. Other traits of the 
eyes should be noticed ; whether large or small ; 
protruding, sunken ; bright or dull, and so on. 



68 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

In a similar manner, by noticing all possible 
variable traits, the whole body can be analyzed 
and described. The figure can be described as 
tall or short for the age ; stout, slender ; fleshy, 
thin ; bones may be large or small ; the muscular 
development good, poor; neck, long or short, 
thick or slender; shoulders, broad or narrow, 
square, sloping, flat or projecting; arms, long 
or short; hands, large, small, wide, narrow, 
long or short. The contour of the lines of the y 
palm can be observed in detail and the main 
lines sketched with a view to finding relations 
between these traits and mental constitution. 
The chest can be described as broad, narrow, 
thin, deep, full, flat; legs, long, short, etc. 

These suggestions are intended only to show 
how to proceed in studying the conformation 
of the body. Many other important character- 
istics could be mentioned, and analysis could be 
carried much further. The judgments that are 
called for are relative ; they become trustworthy 
in proportion as large numbers of individuals 
are studied comparatively. Detailed study of 
the body cannot fail to give to an observer a 
sense of the great complexity of personality, 
and its great variability. 

Where variability is great, abnormal varia- 
tion is to be expected, and the human body is 
no exception to this law. Departures from the 
typical, marked enough to have received special 
names, are very numerous and there are all 



BODY CHARACTERISTICS 69 

degrees of variation from norm or average. 
Pronounced defects may be present in those 
who are apparently normal in all practical 
characteristics; in other cases even slight de- 
fects seem to be connected with mental devia- 
tion. Criminologists of some schools make 
much of a certain class of marks called stigmata 
of degeneration. These are often found in nor- 
mal people, and alone cannot be regarded as 
evidence of abnormal personality. Yet there 
are physical defects that mean much to the 
mind of the expert. In every case peculiarity 
of body is at least an indication that a close 
study of the mental life of the person is needed. 
Some of the most commonly found defects are 
mentioned below: 

The head may be too large or too small, or 
asymmetrical; there may be large projections 
or depressions in its* surface, or it may be pecul- 
iarly shaped as a whole — too narrow, too 
wide, projecting at the top, or conical in shape. 
The forehead may be very narrow or sloping, 
asymmetrical, or too prominent. The ears may 
be unlike or asymmetrical, very large or very 
small, projecting, irregularly implanted, irregu- 
lar in shape, excessively folded, or crumpled. 
Some part may be absent or undeveloped; the 
outer rim may be imperfect, too large or too 
small, deficient in development or grooved. 
The face may be undeveloped as a whole or in 
some of its parts, or asymmetrical, having one 



70 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

side larger than the other or different in out- 
line. The features may be very coarse and 
heavy or disproportionate one to another. The 
facial angle may be too small; the mouth may 
be too large or too small, or may have one 
angle lower than the other. The lips may be 
thick, chin small and undeveloped, gums very 
large, projecting or asymmetrical, narrow, V- 
shaped, or flat and square. 

The palate or roof of the mouth may be too 
high, too shallow, V-shaped, saddle-shaped, ir- 
regular; it may have a longitudinal ridge at 
the top. Abnormalities of the teeth are very 
common, and in the eyes of the expert in degen- 
eracy they are important. There may be too 
many or too few teeth, the presence of super- 
numerary cone-shaped teeth being regarded as 
one of the special marks of degeneracy. Some 
of the teeth may have more than the normal 
number of cusps; the teeth may be very large 
or too small, or the surfaces may be notched or 
uneven. 

Defects of other parts of the body are com- 
mon. Some of them seem certainly connected 
with mental defects; others are the result of 
diseases like tuberculosis, rickets, or paralysis. 
The body as a whole may be much too large or 
too small for the age, or it may be undeveloped 
and retain infantile traits. The bones of the 
chest may project forward, making pigeon- 
breast, or the chest as a whole may be too 



BODY CHARACTERISTICS 71 

round, like that of an infant. The shoulders 
may be too square, or too sloping, irregular, 
asymmetrical, or projecting at the back. The 
back curves may be abnormal, such defects as 
hollow back, lateral curvature of the spine, 
angular deformity, being common. Hands, 
arms, legs may also have deformities of many 
kinds. 

Even superficial observation of any large 
group of children will disclose many departures 
from the normal, typical, or average. In order 
to have clear understanding of the deformities 
that have been mentioned, it will be best to 
observe them in children that have them in 
marked degree. Among the feeble-minded they 
will be found more frequently, and usually in 
a more marked form, than among the normal, 
but, on the other hand, many children with pro- 
nounced mental defects seem to be entirely free 
from bodily marks. Some departure from type 
will be found in almost every one, and too much 
should not be made of slight abnormalities and 
peculiarities; but the child with decidedly an 
atypical body should be singled out for more 
careful study than can usually be given him by 
the amateur observer. 

Other suggestions for observation of physical 
characteristics can be found in the literature of 
phrenology and the like, all valuable if studied 
in conjunction with other and broader concep- 
tions of physical individuality. Especially the 



72 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

charts and observation systems of phrenologists 
and physiognomists will.be found helpful. The 
literature of palmistry is also interesting, and 
contains many suggestive facts. Types of 
hands certainly exist, and the palmist's classifi- 
cation of fingers into square, spatulate, and 
conical seems to indicate important traits. The 
mounts of the hand, and the lines of the palm 
are also worth study. That there are racial 
differences in the lines of the palms is well 
known, and types of conformation of fingers 
appear to accompany types of temperament, 
and, in the opinion of some, types of tendency 
to disease. 

In observing and recording the body charac- 
teristics of children, it is best to arrange in 
advance an outline containing the names of 
traits that are to be observed and the adjectives 
that are used in describing the degrees or kinds 
that are usually found. The descriptive terms 
can then be underlined as the traits are ob- 
served, and notes added about such traits as 
cannot be thus systematically described. 

But analysis and description of parts does 
not exhaust the methods of judging such char- 
acteristics as traits of the body. There is also 
a balance among parts that is characteristic of 
the person as a whole, and of many variables 
into larger traits, that for one reason or an- 
other have come to be aesthetically regarded. 
We commonly speak of a child as having a good 



BODY CHARACTERISTICS 73 

head, or good eyes, or face, or figure. Such 
judgments, even on the part of the untrained 
observer, have value ; for our aesthetic approval 
and disapproval of physical traits, like our 
moral judgments of mental traits, are closely 
related to their biological value. A child should 
be studied, therefore, with reference to those 
attitudes toward his physical traits that we 
commonly call the aesthetic. 

REFERENCES 

The literature of physical abnormality is very 
voluminous. Methods for description of normal traits 
are not yet well worked out. The literature of phren- 
ology, physiognomy, and palmistry should at least be 
looked into in connection with these topics. Books 
on ethnology and anthropology should be consulted 
for methods of describing racial characteristics. 
Brinton's Races and Peoples, works of Broca, Topi- 
nard, and Galton can be mentioned. Books of Ber- 
tillon, "Warner, Talbot, contain methods of observa- 
tion and description of physical abnormalities. See 
especially A. Bertillon, Signaletic Instructions and 
the Theory and Practice of Anthropometrical Identi- 
fication. 

IV 

MEASUREMENT OF THE BODY 

Measurement of the body is an interesting 
and, in part, practical method of studying in- 
dividuals. Methods that are now in use 



74 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

have been devised for various purposes, and 
the measurements that are taken vary with 
the purpose for which they are made. An- 
thropometrists measure for the purpose of pre- 
scribing exercise and regime. Criminologists 
and those who study the insane and the defect- 
ive measure to detect departures from the 
normal. Physicians measure to discover dis- 
ease. Penologists measure for the purposes of 
identification. Biologists, who are interested in 
the problems of variation, measure to secure 
data for determining laws of evolution. A 
long laboratory course in measurement of the 
human body could readily be prepared which 
would be full of interest, and in a measure im- 
mediately practical for the individuals that 
were so studied. Performance of a few of the 
most common measurements and study of indi- 
viduals with reference to the standards for these 
measurements will be a good introduction to 
work in the exact study of individuals. 

Height is usually measured by means of a 
specially constructed rod and the record is best 
made in centimeters and millimeters. In the 
absence of the proper form of apparatus, cor- 
rect measurement of height can be taken by a 
scale attached to a wall at the proper height. 
The child should stand with the back to the 
wall, with feet close together. He should then 
make himself as tall as possible without raising 
his heels from the floor. The head will not 



BODY MEASUREMENT 75 

rest against the wall, and the weight of the body- 
will be felt on the balls of the feet. In taking 
the measurement, a square such as is used in 
drawing can be used. One arm of it should be 
held against the scale and the square lowered 
until the other arm rests firmly upon the highest 
point of the head. Shoes should be removed or 
the height of the heel measured separately and 
deducted from the total height. 

Weight can be tested with any accurately 
adjusted scale, the child being in indoor cloth- 
ing. About lave pounds are to be allowed for 
the weight of clothing in estimating the actual 
weight. 

The two records, height and weight, and the 
relation between them show important charac- 
teristics of the child, and if the measurements 
are taken two or three times each year, still 
more important information is obtained. Chil- 
dren of school age should show increase in both 
these measurements each year, and if they do 
not, further investigation is desirable. Below 
is given a table of height and weight computed 
for American children in several cities. From 
it the relation of weight to height for each year 
can easily be computed. The method of com- 
paring an individual to the average is but a 
rough way of using data about him, but it will 
yield conclusions that are reliable enough to 
be of practical use in many cases. 



76 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 



TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE HEIGHT AND WEIGHT OF AMERICAN 
CHILDREN (FROM BURK). WEIGHT GIVEN IS PRE- 
SUMABLY WEIGHT IN INDOOR CLOTHING. 

Age wt. boys wt. girls lit. boys ht. girls 



5 1-2 






41.7 


41.3 


6 1-2 


45.2 


43.4 


43.9 


43.3 


7 1-2 


49.5 


47.7 


46.0 


45.7 


8 1-2 


54.5 


52.5 


48.8 


47.7 


9 1-2 


59.6 


57.4 


50.0 


49.7 


10 1-2 


65.4 


62.9 


51.9 


51.7 


11 1-2 


70.7 


69.5 


53.6 


53.8 


12 1-2 


76.9 


78.7 


55.4 


56.1 


13 1-2 


84.8 


88.7 


57.5 


58.5 


14 1-2 


95.2 


98.3 


60.0 


60.4 


15 1-2 


107.4 


106.7 


62.9 


61.6 


16 1-2 


121.0 


112.3 


64.9 


62.2 


17 1-2 




115.4 


66.5 


62.7 



18 1-2 114.9 67.4 

Sitting height. In taking this measurement, 
the height is taken with the child seated upon 
a stool or bench of convenient height. The 
height of the stool is deducted from the total. 
The relation of sitting to standing height is 
regarded as an important index of vitality; 
ordinarily, great length of trunk in proportion 
to height accompanies good power of vital 
organs. 

Span of outstretched arms can be measured 
by having the child stand facing a wall, and 
taking the distance from a point touched by the 
middle ringer of one hand to a point that can 
just be reached by the middle finger of the other 
hand. 



BODY MEASUREMENT 77 

For most of the following measurements 
some kind of calipers are necessary. Special 
instruments can be purchased for making vari- 
ous measurements. The best calipers for head 
measurements are made from steel, with arms 
about a foot in length, jointed in the middle. 
They can be used also for chest measurements, 
but wooden calipers are better for that purpose. 
For practice purposes, calipers that will be 
quite satisfactory can be made by any good 
mechanic at a small cost. 

Chest measurements. Those that are usually 
taken are the antero-posterior and the lateral 
diameters, and the circumference. The former 
diameter is to be taken in a direction perpen- 
dicular to the spinal column and at a level with 
the armpits. The lateral diameter and the cir- 
cumference are taken at the same height. The 
expansion of the chest is the difference between 
two measurements of circumference, one taken 
at full inspiration, and the other at full ex- 
piration. 

Head measurements. Many measurements 
of the head are made, and in exact work the 
outline of the head in several directions is 
taken. For the purposes of the school, three 
measurements can be made to advantage; the 
circumference, the breadth, and the length. 
The circumference is taken with the tapeline 
passed around the head, a little above the eye- 
brows, and at the back passing over a point 



78 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

where there is a slight projection of the occipital 
bone. With a little practice this measurement 
can be made uniformly; the accuracy of the 
observer can be tested by repeating the meas- 
urements several times. Eoughly speaking, 
the measure of the circumference is a measure 
of the size of the head. 

The length or maximal antero-posterior diam- 
eter of the head can be taken by means of the 
steel calipers. One point should rest on the 
ridge between the eyebrows and the other point 
should be moved about at the back of the head 
until the greatest diameter is found. After 
some practice this measurement can be taken 
with a very small error. 

The maximal lateral diameter of the head or 
the breadth is found by moving the calipers 
about the widest part of the head. The experi- 
menter should stand behind the child, holding 
the calipers in a horizontal position, and mov- 
ing both points together in the same plane in 
a zigzag manner, from front to back, until the 
widest point is found. 

The relation of the two diameters of the head 
to each other is a characteristic that is regarded 
as important by anthropologists. It is called 
the cephalic index, and is a trait that changes 
but little in the individual after early infancy. 
The relation is usually expressed by a fraction 
obtained by dividing width by length. Heads 
are classified as dolicocephalic, mesocephalic, 



BODY MEASUREMENT 79 

and brachycephalic, according to their breadth 
in relation to length. Some recent studies in- 
dicate that there is some relation between type 
of head and characteristics of the intelligence. 

Girth of wrist is taken with the tapeline at 
the smallest part of the wrist; this, compared 
with the girth of the forearm taken at the 
largest part, will show something about the 
relation of skeletal to soft tissues of the body. 

Other measurements that are regarded as im- 
portant by anthropologists are : Length of the 
upper arm, of the forearm, of the upper and 
lower parts of the leg, length of hand and foot, 
various fractional heights, and the girth at vari- 
ous points. To make most of these measure- 
ments, knowledge of the anatomical points of 
the body is required, and opportunity to meas- 
ure the child with some of his clothing removed. 

Measurements of physical traits have been 
developed to a degree of refinement that would 
perhaps seem too minute to anyone except a 
specialist in anthropometry; but it is better to 
know too much than too little about an individ- 
ual. Koberts, for example, gives a list of sixty- 
one measurements. Another comprehensive 
system is that of Kellogg, and a list of his 
measurements can be used for reference. If 
the anatomical terminology is not familiar, any 
good text-book on anatomy will give the 
required information. Tests of muscular 
strength are included. The measurements are : 



80 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

Height standing, length of sternum, not includ- 
ing the cartilage, abdomen from base of zyphoid 
cartilage to pubes, sternum to umbilicus, um- 
bilicus to pubes, circumference of neck, of upper 
chest in repose, and after expiration and in- 
spiration, lower chest in the same three meas- 
urements, circumference of waist, hips, thigh, 
calf, upper arm, forearm, depth of chest, of 
abdomen, breadth of shoulders, of chest, of 
waist, of hips, stretch of arms, bi-iliac diameter, 
test of lung capacity with spirometer. 

Tests of strength: Strength of hand flex- 
ors, hand extensors, forearm pronators, forearm 
supinators, arm flexors, arm extensors, latissi- 
mus dorsi, deltoids, pectorals, shoulder retract- 
ors, foot flexors, foot extensors, leg flexors, leg 
extensors, thigh flexors, thigh extensors, thigh 
abductors, thigh adductors, trunk muscles in 
anterior, posterior, and lateral movements, 
muscles of the neck in the same measurements, 
inspiration power at waist and chest, inspira- 
tion and expiration tests with pneumotometer. 

From these measurements many coefficients 
are estimated, such as height-weight, strength- 
weight, respiration-weight, strength-height, res- 
piration-height, coefficient of vital efficiency, 
coefficient of vital development, arms-legs co- 
efficient, totals for arms, legs, trunk, chest, 
entire body. 

Other systems provide for somewhat differ- 
ent measurements, and there is no exact agree- 



BODY MEASUREMENT 81 

ment, either in the number of measurements 
that should be made, or the points on the skel- 
eton that should be used as marks. Some 
investigators have special methods or tests, the 
importance of which they emphasize. Seaver, 
for example, measures the specific gravity of 
the body by computing the relation between the 
weight of the body in air and its weight in 
water. Some of the methods of measurement 
that have been devised are interesting, aside 
from the results that are obtained by their use, 
for they illustrate the great complexity of the 
human body, and the number of its variable 
traits. Such a system as that devised by Rieger 
for taking head measurements, for example, 
can be mentioned. First the exact vertex of 
the head is located, and at this point the center 
where two threads are tied together is placed 
and the threads let fall over fixed points of 
the skull. The circumference of the head is 
then marked by a rubber band. With these 
lines fixed, measurements and outlines are taken 
by means of lead wire, and the lines are repro- 
duced upon a chart, on which the fixed points 
are indicated. From the chart any measure- 
ment of the head that is required can then be 
computed. 

For the purposes of research, many other 
measurements and tests of the body are made, 
and there are many kinds of apparatus and 
instruments in use in the laboratory for this 



82 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

work. A chapter should, perhaps, be devoted 
to the exact measurement of physiological 
processes of the body and the measurement of 
internal organs, but this is a field largely closed 
to the amateur experimenter, partly because of 
the technical knowledge of physiology and an- 
atomy that is required, and in part because com- 
plicated apparatus is needed, and the facilities 
of a laboratory. Something should be said 
about the many interesting instruments now in 
use. Many of them are common to the psycho- 
logical and physiological laboratory, and are 
also used in medical work, the same measure- 
ment being made from several points of view. 
Some should more properly be mentioned in con- 
nection with description of movements rather 
than of structures of the body. For measuring 
and describing qualities of the respiratory func- 
tion, there are spirometer, pneumograph, and 
pneumotometer ; for circulation, plethysmo- 
graph, sphygmograph, cardiograph; for move- 
ment, the ergograph and dynamometer. For 
examination of the size and contour of internal 
organs there are now the methods of the X-ray, 
and in the medical laboratory will be found in- 
struments for testing reactions to electrical 
stimulus, and many others. 

Such practice work in anthropometry as is 
suggested here cannot, of course, be made al- 
ways definitely practical. Yet anyone that is 



BODY MEASUREMENT 83 

enough interested to acquire a few of the sim- 
plest methods can become sufficiently informed 
to detect the more pronounced departures from 
the normal, and at least to direct individuals 
to the expert for further examination and 
treatment. Some knowledge of methods of 
measuring and observing the human body 
should be possessed by all who control children, 
so that they can work with the experts in physi- 
cal culture and medicine, who are becoming 
more and more valuable coadjutors in the work 
of education. 

In the detail of methods the main purpose of 
testing and measuring the body should not be 
lost from sight. It is not knowledge about the 
part that is measured that is usually sought, 
but by means of examining those parts of the 
body that are most accessible to observation, 
it is hoped that a knowledge of the vital mental 
and physical functions with which they are re- 
lated may be gained. To what extent the super- 
ficial traits are so connected, and how, is for 
the most part unknown, but the study of the 
accessible trait prepares the way for study of 
the, at present, inaccessible trait. We wish to 
know with regard to an individual the func- 
tional capacity and vitality of the organism as 
a whole, and the relative strength and resistance 
of the physiological systems or groups of organs 
that comprise the body, and whose combined 



S4 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

functioning make the efficiency of the man as 
a whole ; but at present we are a long way from 
the ideal of a complete biometry. 

REFERENCES 

The most comprehensive and most practical guide 
for the study of anthropometry is the Manual of 
Physical Measurements, by W. W. Hastings, It in- 
cludes descriptions of apparatus, directions for per- 
forming measurements, and tables containing norms 
for both boys and girls of all school ages, and for all 
the important measurements. Other manuals some- 
what similar in scope are those of Seaver, Gulick, and 
Roberts. The Reports of the Department of Re- 
search, Chicago Public School contain valuable in- 
formation about physical measurements of children. 
For statistics of growth in height and weight the most 
complete report is that by F. Burk: Growth of Chil- 
dren in Height and Weight, American Journal of 
Psychology, April, 1898. 

Biometrika contains many articles on the subject 
of variation in physical traits and the relations among 
them. These articles are somewhat technical, but 
they will show what is being done in the field of exact 
measurement. 

K. Pearson : On the Relation of Intelligence to Size 
and Shape of the Head, and to Other Physical and 
Mental Characters. Biometrika, Yol. 5, 1906, pp. 
105-146. 

Boas and Wissler : Statistics of Growth. Report of 
the United States Commissioner of Education, 1896-7. 

G. M. West : Observations of the Relation of Physi- 
cal Development to Intellectual Ability Made on the 



MOVEMENT: OBSERVATIONAL 85 

School Children of Toronto, Canada. Science, N. S. 
IV, 1895, 106-159. 

F. Boas : Anthropological Investigations in Schools. 
Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. II, pp. 225-228. 



OBSERVATION" OF MOVEMENT , 

Information about individuals that is of 
both practical and theoretical importance can 
be obtained by observing their habitual mo- 
tions. The best opportunity for observing the 
child as a moving body is during his free 
play. It can soon be determined whether he is 
essentially an active or an inactive child. The 
character of the movements should be noticed. 
The movements of the sound, active child are 
free, graceful, and animal-like in quality. If 
they are awkward, difficult, or restrained, other 
signs of deficient activity should be looked for. 
Skill should be noticed, as in playing games 
such as baseball, which requires display of both 
activity and accurate coordination; or marbles 
that requires more minute coordination. Infor- 
mation should be obtained from the child about 
his motor interests ; in games, occupations, and 
school work. 

A simple test that is recommended by War- 
ner can be used to obtain information about 
the child's neuro-muscular constitution. It is 



86 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

made thus : When an opportunity occurs under 
natural conditions, extend your hand to the 
child and take his hand, with some such remark 
as " Good morning, " or (t How do you do this 
morning? " Notice the characteristics of the 
handclasp of the child. Is it firm or limp? 
Is it steady or spasmodic? Is there squirming 
of the whole body, or do the movements seem 
under control? Is posture good? Are the 
movements of the face normal, in excess, or 
is there deficiency of reaction? Does the child 
look steadily at you, or is the glance shifting 
or downcast? Is there rapid change of color of 
the face? Other points for observation will 
occur to the experimenter; record should be 
made of all that is observed. 

Another simple method of studying charac- 
teristic movement habits of the child is called 
the hand-balance test. It was also first de- 
scribed by Warner. The child is requested to 
stand with hands at the sides, and then to hold 
them out in front of him with palms down. 
The posture that is assumed is then studied. 
Posture being the result of movements, the 
character of the muscular control is indicated 
by it. If the balance is good, the arms will be 
held at the same height, wrists and fingers will 
be horizontal, the fingers held closely together, 
the thumbs close to the fingers and nearly on 
a level with them. The typical defective posi- 
tion of the child with bad neuro-muscular con- 



MOVEMENT: OBSERVATIONAL 87 

trol is that in which the arms are held at 
unequal height, the back bent and hollowed, 
arms drooping forward, hands bent, thumbs and 
fingers drooping. This posture is sometimes 
the result of acute fatigue, but it is also charac- 
teristic of the badly organized neuro-muscular 
system, and its presence in a child in a marked 
degree always means the need of investigation 
of the cause. A little practice in performing 
the test with large groups of children will en- 
able one to use the method with practical results. 
Another defective posture is the nervous bal- 
ance, less commonly seen, in which the palms 
are bent backward, the fingers curved, and some- 
times spread apart. This posture is often seen 
in those subject to over-excitability or tension, 
especially in nervous girls. 

Much can be learned about a child by ob- 
serving his movements as he is busy at his 
ordinary mental occupations. Movements of 
the face should first be observed, when the child 
is active, as in recitation. Compared with other 
children, are the facial movements many or 
few? Is there over-mobility, or lack of expres- 
sion? Are movements of the eyes steady, nerv- 
ous, shifting? The upper and lower parts of 
the face should be observed separately. 

Then one should pass to observation of the 
movements of the body. Are the movements 
many or few, excessive or deficient? Are there 
any habitual movements of hands or feet ? Are 



88 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

there frequent nervous or jerky movements? 
Is the posture erect or drooping? What is the 
habitual position of the feet in standing? 

Observations should also be made when the 
child is busy, seated at his ordinary mental 
work. Movements of forehead, mouth, and 
eyes should be noticed particularly. Habitual 
movements of any part of the body, the charac- 
teristics of the movements, amount of restless- 
ness, habits of attention and distraction should 
be observed. Complete rules for observing 
movements in this way cannot be given. They 
should be made a few at a time, and the child 
under special observation should be compared 
with others. In this way the eye is trained to 
detect differences that are usually overlooked; 
and certain types are recognized which will 
serve as standards for comparison. 

A few abnormalities of movement can be men- 
tioned, with special reference to the defects of 
school children. There may be excessive mobil- 
ity shown in almost incessant action of the 
body, appearing especially in facial movements, 
such as blinking, scowling, movements of mouth 
and tongue. There may be habitual movements 
of some group of muscles, such as twitching, 
or rhythmical performance of the same move- 
ment. Movements may be unequal in the two 
sides of face or body. In some cases a decided 
deficiency of movement will be observed, appear- 
ing in lack of expression of the face and 



MOVEMENT: OBSERVATIONAL 89 

drooping postures. Two types of apparently- 
excessive movement may be observed which, 
though appearing alike on superficial notice, 
are very different in meaning. In the first case 
an excess of movement is due to multiplicity 
of occupational interests ; the child is constantly 
in motion, but the movements are, for the most 
part, controlled and purposive. In a quite dif- 
ferent type of over-mobility the movements are 
automatic, unintentional, or, it may be, take 
place in opposition to effort to control them. 
Apparently there are two kinds of still child. 
There is first the motor deficiency that is the 
result of lack of nervous energy; the child is 
still because little is taking place in the mind 
that leads to action. There is also a stillness 
that results from exceptional control and con- 
centration of effort. 

Postures should be observed also as indica- 
tions of neuro-muscular control: habitual ec- 
centric or atypical postures should always be 
observed and recorded. In standing there may 
be unequal position of shoulders, protruding of 
abdomen, and holiowness of back. The posi- 
tion of feet may be unequal, one much in 
advance of the other ; or the feet may be very 
wide apart, as though coordination were imper- 
fect, and standing difficult. Sitting postures 
should also be observed, and the child 's habitual 
postures described; whether erect or drooping, 
or in any way exceptional. 



90 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

The manual work of the child should be stud- 
ied with reference to the qualities of his volun- 
tary movements. It can be described in such 
terms as the following: Accurate, skillful, 
quick, neat, quiet, careful, inaccurate, awkward, 
slow, untidy, noisy, careless. 

Gait may be described as: Light, heavy, 
rapid, slow, awkward, graceful, regular, irregu- 
lar. Defects commonly seen are jerkiness and 
irregularity of steps, swaying or bobbing of 
body, lack of coordination, indirection. 

The voice being a motor function in part, par- 
ticipates in the qualities of the movements of 
an individual. It can be described as : Strong, 
weak, clear, indistinct or muffled, smooth, jerky, 
high-pitched, low-pitched, rapid, slow. Defects 
as stammering, lisping, tongue-tie, defective ar- 
ticulation, should be noticed. 

Expression of the face is also, in part, due to 
muscular qualities, and can be regarded as pos- 
ture resulting from motor activity in the mus- 
cles of the face. Expressions can be analyzed 
and described in terms of movement or position, 
and they can also be described by such terms as : 
Frightened, anxious, suffering, timid, relaxed, 
tense, determined, confident, sullen, cross, weak, 
strong, haughty, bold, pleasant, light, serious, 
frank, deceitful, keen, stupid — and many 
others. 

Observation of characteristics of movement, 
as the above suggestions should show, is a far- 



MOVEMENT : OBSERVATIONAL 91 

reaching method of studying individuality. 
Mind is expressed in movement, and the contin- 
uous play of movement that goes on in the 
body discloses the nature of the mental proc- 
esses that incite or control the movements, and 
also indicates the condition of the body itself. 
No part of individual- study will yield better re- 
turns to the practical student than the study of 
movement, and although the precision of exact 
experiment is lacking, many clues to important 
traits of the individual will be found in the 
characteristics of movement. 

KEFERENCES 

F. Warner: The Children, and other books by the 
same writer. Dr. Warner appears to have developed 
this method of individual-study further than anyone 
else. 

F. Burk: From Fundamental to Accessory in the 
Development of the Nervous System and of Move- 
ment. Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. VI, 1895, 5-64. 
Contains a discussion of the development of movement 
in the individual as related to its development in the 
race. 

Holt and also Sachs may be consulted for accounts 
of abnormal movements in the child, and of diseases 
that produce certain defects of motor activity. 

E. H. Lindley: A Preliminary Study of Some of 
the Motor Phenomena of Mental Effort. American 
Journal of Psychology, Vol. VII, July, 1895, 491- 
517. 



92 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

VI 

THE EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MOVEMENT 

Experimental study of movement can be 
made in many ways; for movement, con- 
sidered psychologically and physiologically, is 
complex, and several variable qualities can be 
isolated for study. Movements vary in (1) 
rapidity; (2) strength; (3) accuracy of control ; 
(4) range; (5) endurance. These qualities are 
themselves also complex and various aspects of 
them can be considered separately. Endurance, 
for example, is a result of several factors, and 
though it can be measured as a separate trait, 
its factors can also be distinguished, and, in 
part, calculated. Besides the traits that have 
been mentioned, the capacity of an individual 
for learning a movement, or for improvement 
can be measured. 

Strength of movement is usually tested by 
means of some form of dynamometer. Various 
muscle-groups can be tested, but for a single 
test of muscular strength, the strength of the 
handclasp is usually selected. It appears to 
be correlated with strength of other movements, 
and it can be used as a rough measure of the 
power of the individual to exert muscular force, 
a characteristic which we now know is by no 
means entirely due to quality of the muscle, but 
is a complex result of several factors, in part 



MOVEMENT: EXPERIMENTAL 93 

psychical. Although a makeshift for a dyna- 
mometer can easily be constructed from a spring 
balance of sufficient force, if accurate results 
are demanded, one must be purchased. For use 
with children, an instrument with adjustable 
handles is best. 

It should be understood at once that all tests 
in which a maximal effort is required, examine, 
not a single trait, but a complex result of several 
factors, the numerical result standing for the 
whole product. Ability to make an effort, and 
willingness to do so, enter into such a simple 
operation as making the strongest possible 
handclasp in unknown proportions. There are 
many ways of eliminating in part some of the 
variables that we wish to disregard in the meas- 
urement. If the greatest possible handclasp is 
required, the factor of willingness to exert effort 
must be made uniform in some way, and this is 
not easily accomplished. In the case of some 
children a mere suggestion is sufficient to bring 
out the greatest effort ; others need the stimulus 
of competition or reward. Much depends upon 
the experimenter's ability to perceive all the 
factors that are involved, and to adapt the 
method of procedure to the conditions. Usually 
in such an experiment as taking the strength 
of handclasp, best results are obtained by excit- 
ing competition, and by offering a reward for 
the best record. But with these precautions it 
can easily be seen that conditions are not made 



94 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

entirely uniform, psychologically considered; 
indeed, it must be kept in mind constantly that 
even the most simple test upon a human being 
is no mere setting of a task and reading of the 
result, but a problem that must be studied 
broadly. In taking the handclasp, then, the ex- 
perimenter aims at securing the child's greatest 
effort. Several trials are to be made, and the 
best single record is to be taken as a measure 
of strength. Below is given a table showing in 
kilograms the strength of handclasp of children 
measured in the Chicago public schools. The 
figures show the arithmetical mean, a quantity 
slightly different from the average. 

TABLE SHOWING STRENGTH OF HAND CLASP 

FBOM EEPOET OF THE EESEAECH DEPAETMENT CHICAGO PUBLIC 







SCHOOLS. 






age 


b.r. 


b.l. 


g-r. 


gL 


4 


6.0 


6.0 


6.0 


5.25 


5 


9.0 


8.0 


7.5 


7.0 


6 


10.5 


10.0 


9.5 


9.0 


7 


12.0 


11.5 


11.0 


10.0 


8 


13.5 


13.0 


12.0 


11.0 


9 


16.0 


15.0 


13.0 


12.5 


10 


17.0 


16.0 


15.0 


14.0 


11 


19.0 


18.0 


17.0 


15.5 


12 


22.0 


20.0 


19.0 


17.5 


13 


25.0 


23.0 


22.0 


21.0 


14 


28.0 


26.0 


25.0 


23.0 


15 


35.0 


32.0 


28.0 


25.0 


16 


41.0 


38.0 


29.0 


27.0 


17 


45.5 


43.0 


30.0 


27.5 


18 


49.5 


46.5 


31.0 


29.0 


19-20 


51.0 


48.0 


32.0 


30.0 (gl9) 



MOVEMENT : EXPERIMENTAL 95 

In making such a test as the above, the nu- 
merical result is not all that is obtained. When 
a child is taken out of his ordinary routine and 
set at a novel task it is an excellent opportunity 
for discovering some of his most distinguishing 
characteristics. Records should be made of his 
attitude toward the experiment; what he said 
and did, the interest and the effort that he ex- 
hibited. 

Rapidity of movement can be examined in 
several ways without the use of complicated 
apparatus. The best movement upon which to 
experiment is tapping at maximal rate with 
the finger. It is a natural movement and one 
that can fairly easily be brought under uniform 
experimental conditions. The number of dots 
that can be made with a pencil in 30 seconds 
can be used as a rough measure of rapidity. 
Conditions must be made uniform as to general 
position of the body, manner of holding the 
pencil, and the like, but the tapping should be 
done with a free movement, the child being told 
to tap as rapidly as possible. For more accu- 
rate tests of tapping, apparatus such as that 
described by Bryan (American Journal of 
Psychology, Vol. 5, p. 139) can easily be con- 
structed. Standards for school ages for tap- 
ping with a free movement do not seem to have 
been established, but comparison of individuals 
with a large group will give information about 
exceptional cases that will be interesting. 



96 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

Tests made upon 200 children in New York City- 
show an average of approximately .180 second 
as the time of making a dot, when 10-second 
periods are used. Children ranged in age from 
eight to sixteen years. Averages for boys 
were: ten years, .181 sec; eleven, .176 sec; 
twelve, .169 sec. Averages for girls : ten years, 
.193 sec ; eleven, .182 sec. ; twelve, .181 sec. 

For estimating rapidity of movement these 
methods are probably better than the single 
reaction method which requires the nse of com- 
plicated measuring apparatus. None of these 
methods however are very analytic, for they 
test several qualities of the individual ; properly 
they should be discussed also psychologically, 
and an attempt made to discover exactly what 
the factors in the process tested are. 

A characteristic of the individual that has as 
yet received but little attention is the relation 
of habitual or preferred action, mental or physi- 
cal, to the greatest capacity. The habit of the 
individual can be tested for such a trait as 
rapidity of performing a simple movement such 
as tapping. The relation between optimum and 
maximum rate can be tested in several ways. 
The method of tapping can be used; prelim- 
inary experiments being made in which care 
is taken not to suggest speed or competition, 
or tests can be made after the speed tests in 
which the children are directed to tap at the 
rate that seems easiest, most pleasant, or most 



MOVEMENT : EXPERIMENTAL 97 

natural to them. Writing can also be used as 
test method, the quantity of writing that is 
done in a leisurely task being compared with 
the quantity that can be done at greatest speed. 
Copying from a book, using material that is 
new, or writing passages that are well mem- 
orized can be tested in a similar manner. Stern 
used for the tests of optimum rate, the rate of 
beating a triple rhythm. 

The rapidity with which a more complicated 
movement can be performed can be tested by 
having the child deal an ordinary pack of play- 
ing cards into four piles. Some preliminary 
practice should be allowed before a record is 
taken. 

Control of movement is a loose term for sev- 
eral qualities, such as steadiness, accuracy, re- 
sistance to stimulus, and the like. Accuracy 
of a movement can be tested fairly well by hav- 
ing the child strike with a pencil at crosses made 
upon a large sheet of paper. Twelve crosses 
can be made in irregular position on the paper, 
and the child must strike at the center of each. 
Conditions should be made uniform, and some 
preliminary practice should be allowed. Fixed 
rules must be followed with regard to the plac- 
ing of the paper, manner of holding the pencil, 
height to which it is raised, and in other details 
that will readily be suggested to the experi- 
menter. If experiments are made on several oc- 
casions, and several records are taken, a study 



98 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

of the numerical results will be likely to show 
some types of control of movement. The aver- 
age error for the day and for the whole series 
should be computed, and also the average devia- 
tion of the trials from the average, the latter 
in order to find the variability of control. 

Another test of accuracy of movement can be 
made by means of the game in which a ball or 
beanbag is tossed at a hole in a board. The 
game becomes an experiment if fixed conditions 
are prescribed, such as an exact distance, a 
fixed method of holding the ball, uniformity of 
surroundings. Series of about twenty-five 
trials each should be taken. 

A refinement of the test just described was 
used by Bagley. The apparatus consists of a 
target at which marbles are tossed, the records 
being made on a carbon paper placed between 
the target and the recording sheet. This ap- 
paratus can easily be arranged by an amateur 
experimenter, and it can be used for several 
tests, especially for studying improvement in 
control of movement, or the method of learning 
a new movement. 

Tests of steadiness can be made simply with- 
out apparatus. A simple experiment is per- 
formed by having the child hold out at arm's 
length a long pointer, and directing him to hold 
it as steadily as possible. Degree of unsteadi- 
ness can be estimated by the eye by observing 
the motion of the end of the pointer; or, if a 



MOVEMENT : EXPERIMENTAL 99 

more accurate means is required, a rule can be 
attached perpendicularly to a convenient sur- 
face such as the edge of a door and the amount 
of unsteadiness measured by having the pointer 
held close to the scale but not touching it. 
Both the extent of the excursions of the pointer, 
and the characteristics of the unsteadiness such 
as rhythm, rapidity, and the like should be ob- 
served. Movements of the face and body 
should also be noticed. The Warner hand-bal- 
ance test can be used in studying steadiness of 
control. Movements of fingers, wrists, arms, 
and the whole body should be noticed. 

Other experiments upon steadiness of move- 
ment or control can be made by means of an 
automatograph, which consists in its simplest 
form of two slates, one of which is made to 
move over the other by placing marbles between 
them. A recording device is arranged by at- 
taching an arm to the upper slate and to the 
arm a vertical tube through which a pencil is 
passed, slightly weighted, so as to press firmly 
upon a smoked paper as the slate is moved. 
Steadiness is tested by having the child place 
his hand upon the slate, and try to hold it 
as still as possible. The tracing on the paper 
is the record of the unsteadiness. Several 
types will be seen, according to whether there 
is much or little movement, great or little varia- 
bility in control, rapid or slow movement. 
Other more accurate tests of steadiness require 



100 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

some equipment in the way of electrical ap- 
paratus. Bagley used a scroll cut from tin foil 
with a path 1 mm. in width. An electrical at- 
tachment indicated the number of times the 
edge of the path was struck in trying to follow 
the path with a writing point. 

Control of a reflex movement can be examined 
roughly without apparatus or more accurately 
by means of a simple device that can easily 
be arranged. The reflex wink is a convenient 
reflex upon which to experiment. The power 
to control it is very variable among children. 
Some measure of the control can be made by 
making quick movements toward the eyes of 
the child with a pencil. The child should be 
seated comfortably and told to fixate a point 
about ten feet from the eyes. The movements 
are to be made at intervals of about two sec- 
onds until the reflex is under control. The 
measure of ability to control is the number of 
movements. Apparatus for this experiment 
that can easily be constructed, or from which 
simpler models can be planned, is described in 
the American Journal of Psychology, Vol. XI, 
p. 244. 

Fatigue of movement has been studied by 
many methods, but somewhat unsatisfactorily 
for the most part, on account of the difficulty 
of isolating muscles for experiment. The sim- 
plest method of testing fatigue of a movement 
is to be found in the tapping experiment. Test 



MOVEMENT: EXPERIMENTAL 101 

of rapidity of movement may be made a test 
of fatigue sufficient to bring out some individ- 
ual differences by continuing the movement 
until there is marked decline in the rapidity. 
By measuring the amount done during different 
periods of the work characteristics of suscepti- 
bility of the individual to fatigue are made out. 
Class experiments can be made, if proper con- 
ditions are maintained. Large sheets of paper 
should be prepared by ruling them into quar- 
ters; three sheets for each child to be tested, 
the quarters numbered plainly from 1 to 12. 
Periods of ten seconds each of maximal tap- 
ping are then called for, the time of beginning 
and ending being accurately indicated. Five 
seconds can be allowed between the end of one 
period and the beginning of the next. The num- 
ber of dots made during each period is then 
counted. Several trials on successive days 
will be necessary to establish reliable records, 
but some exceptional cases are likely to be 
brought out by a single experiment. 

Endurance of a large group of muscles can 
be tested by having the child hold out the arm 
at a level with the shoulders as long as he can, 
holding a light weight. Or the handclasp ex- 
periment can be made a test of fatigue, by 
taking records at short intervals until there is 
marked reduction in the pressure. 

For accurate study of fatigue apparatus is 
required, and considerable experience in con- 



102 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

ducting experiments. Apparatus can now be 
obtained from the instrument makers that will 
enable one to test the fatigue habit of the in- 
dividual with accuracy; the only objection be- 
ing, for ordinary use, its cost. But the char- 
acteristic is important, and it has played so 
important a part in the study of individual dif- 
ferences that it should be studied even in a 
preliminary investigation. 

Individual differences in power to improve 
in motor ability, and to learn new movements 
can be tested by several of the methods that 
have already been described. For testing im- 
provement the experiment must usually be 
performed on successive days for a consider- 
able period. The rate of improvement is com- 
puted by taking the average improvement of 
each day over the preceding. The variability 
of improvement should be computed also, as 
well as the total amount of improvement. 
And the records should be studied to detect 
individual differences that are not reducible to 
numerical terms. 

REFERENCES 

W. L. Bryan : On the Development of Motor Abil- 
ity. American Journal of Psychology, Nov., 1892, 
pp. 125-214. 

J. A. Hancock: A Preliminary Study of Motor 
Ability in Children. Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 2, 
October, 1894. 



MENTAL TRAITS 103 

Keports of the Research Department of the Chicago 
Public Schools. These should be consulted for studies 
of fatigue. 

W. W. Hastings: Manual of Physical Measure- 
ments. See for methods of testing strength. 

W. C. Bagley: On the Correlation of Mental and 
Motor Ability in School Children. American Journal 
of Psychology, 1901, Vol. 12, 193-205. 

J. A. Hancock: Observation of Children. Peda- 
gogical Seminary, Vol. 8, pp. 291-340. 



VII 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF MENTAL TRAITS 

Having examined the physical nature of the 
child in some of its fundamental traits the at- 
tention can now be turned to the study of the 
mental life. Anyone who has thoughtfully 
studied the physical constitution of an indi- 
vidual must have discovered that the distinc- 
tion between physical and mental cannot in 
practice be drawn so closely as such a division 
of subject matter might seem to indicate. The 
body cannot be understood without regarding 
it as an expression of mental processes: so 
mental traits can be understood only by con- 
sidering them with reference to those physical 
traits with which they are correlated. 

The study of mental individuality has diffi- 
culties peculiar to the nature of the mind; for 
the processes and states that are to be studied 



104 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

are not only complex and very variable from 
individual to individual but they are concealed 
from direct observation and so must be studied 
indirectly. They must be known by the indi- 
vidual's own account of them, and they must be 
inferred from their expression in activity. 
Especially in studying the mind of the child, 
its expression in the ordinary activities of life 
or in experimental situations that greatly re- 
semble these normal activities, must for the 
most part be depended upon rather than the 
child's own account of his mental processes. 

A good introduction to the study of mental 
individuality is a study of the words that are 
used in common speech to describe mental 
traits. In all languages there are many terms 
with fine shades of distinction for those ob- 
jects or attributes of objects in which man 
takes a strong practical interest. It would be 
expected that for the moral and mental attri- 
butes of our fellow beings, characteristics which 
our daily life is constantly busy in interpreting, 
there would be a rich vocabulary; and such is 
the case. 

So the study of mental differences can begin 
with the study of the dictionary. All words 
that are used in describing human nature 
should be culled out. They may then be studied 
with reference to their exact meaning, ety- 
mologically, and to their common usage. Es- 
pecially those terms that seem synonymous 



MENTAL TRAITS 105 

or nearly so should be scrutinized in order to 
detect shades of difference in meaning. The 
list that remains after actual synonyms are 
eliminated can then be classified. Each word 
should be written on a separate card, its full 
meaning written out, and in addition some 
concrete experiences or observations' that illus- 
trate the student's own understanding of the 
word or application of it should be entered. 
The words are then to be arranged, all words 
that signify emotional characteristics for ex- 
ample brought together, and then subdivision 
made according to the emotional states to 
which they apply; such as fear, anger, love, 
moral qualities etc. Words describing differ- 
ences in sensory qualities and in intelligence 
should similarly be arranged. If this work is 
well done the student will find himself in pos- 
session of a psychological outline for the study 
of individuals that is based upon the practical 
experiences of the race, and yet one that will 
be likely to agree fairly well with the divisions 
of scientific psychology. 

When the words have been studied in the way 
that is suggested they can be used as guides 
for the study of individuals. The person un- 
der consideration should be observed with ref- 
erence to each of the words in the list, and 
notes made about those characteristics which, 
in the judgment of the observer, the individual 
possesses, the observation upon which the 



106 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

judgment is made, or the inference is based 
being precisely recorded. 

Below is given a list of terms that were com- 
piled by a class in psychology. It is not nearly 
complete, synonyms have not been eliminated, 
and it is imperfect in other ways, but it will 
indicate the richness of the English language 
in terms describing mental differences. Fol- 
lowing the list of terms is a brief classified 
outline that was used for a preliminary study 
of the traits of school children. More com- 
plete descriptive schemes should be worked out 
by the student. 



PARTIAL LIST OF TERMS IN ENGLISH WHICH 
DESCRIBE MENTAL TRAITS 

Abandoned, abject, abnormal, abrupt, absorbed, ac- 
complished, accommodating, accurate, active, acute, 
acrimonious, adventurous, affable, affected, affection- 
ate, aasthetic, agile, agitated, aggressive, agreeable, 
airy, alert, altruistic, ambitious, angular, angelic, ani- 
mated, anxious, appreciative, apprehensive, apathetic, 
apologetic, ardent, argumentative, artful, artificial, 
artless, aristocratic, ascetic, aspiring, assertive, assum- 
ing, assiduous, attentive, attractive, audacious, avari- 
cious, awkward, 

Babyish, bashful, bad, balky, blatant, bluffing, boast- 
ful, boisterous, bold, boldfaced, bombastic, boobyish, 
bothersome, bright, brainy, brilliant, bragging, brave, 
broad, brokenhearted, buffoonish, buoyant, busy, 

Candid, capable, capricious, careful, careless, cares- 



MENTAL TRAITS 107 

sing, careworn, calm, casuistic, cautious, certain, cheer- 
ful, chickenhearted, chaste, cheap, cheeky, childish, 
civil, clean, clear, clownish, clumsy, cold, collected, 
commanding, common, coarse, comfortable, companion- 
able, comical, complaining, compliant, composed, con- 
ceited, confessing, confidential, confused, congenial, 
conscientious, constant, constrained, consistent, con- 
temptuous, contented, contradicting, contrary, cool, 
courteous, covetous, cowardly, crafty, cranky, creative, 
credulous, crestfallen, cross, crotchety, crude, cruel, 
cunning, curious, cute, cynical, 

Dainty, dashing, dauntless, deceitful, decided, de- 
corous, deep, deferential, defiant, dejected, deliberate, 
despotic, derisive, destructive, determined, dexterous, 
diffident, diffusive, dignified, diligent, diplomatic, di- 
rect, disagreeing, discourteous, discreet, discriminat- 
ing, disdainful, dishonest, dishonorable, disobedient, 
disorderly, disputing, disrespectful, dissatisfied, dis- 
tant, distracted, distressed, docile, dogmatic, domestic, 
domineering, doublefaced, doubting, dowdy, down- 
hearted, dreaming, dressy, droll, dull, dumpy, dutiful, 

Earnest, eccentric, effeminate, effusive, egotistic, elo- 
quent, embarrassed, emotional, emphatic, emulative, 
enigmatical, energetic, entertaining, envious, equable, 
erratic, erudite, even, evil, exact, excitable, exemplary, 
extravagant, 

Facetious, fair, faithful, faithless, familiar, fanci- 
ful, fastidious, faultless, fawning, fearful, fearless, 
fickle, filthy, flighty, fluent, foolhardy, forcible, for- 
giving, forward, fractious, frank, frivolous, friendly, 
funny, fussy, 

Gallant, gawky, gay, genial, genteel, genuine, 
gloomy, gluttonous, good, goodhumored, goodnatured, 
goodtempered, goody, gossiping, graceful, grasping, 



108 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

grateful, grave, greedy, grouty, growling, grumbling, 
gushing, 

Happy, hardhearted, hairbrained, harmless, hasty, 
hateful, haughty, headstrong, hearty, heartbroken, 
heedless, helpful, hesitating, highminded, highstrung, 
highwrought, hilarious, hinting, honest, honorable, 
hopeful, hopeless, humble, humiliated, hurried, humor- 
ous, hypocritical, hysterical, 

Iconoclastic, idealizing, idle, ignorant, illbred, ill- 
natured, illogical, imaginative, imitative, immature, 
immethodical, immodest, immoral, immovable, impas- 
sive, impatient, imperious, impertinent, impetuous, im- 
polite, important, impressible, imprudent, impudent, 
impulsive, impractical, impressionable, impure, inac- 
tive, inane, inattentive, incautious, incoherent, incon- 
sistent, inconspicuous, incorrigible, indecent, indefinite, 
independent, indifferent, individual, indiscreet, indo- 
lent, indomitable, industrious, inert, inexpressive, in- 
fantile, informed, influential, ingenious, ingenuous, 
initiating, innocent, inoffensive, inquisitive, insensi- 
ble, insincere, insinuating, insipid, insistent, intel- 
lectual, intelligent, intense, interested, interesting, 
interrupting, intolerant, intractable, introspective, in- 
trusive, inventive, investigating, invincible, irascible, 
irrational, irresolute, irreverent, irritable, 

Jealous, jeering, jerky, jesting, jolly, joyful, joyless, 
judicious, just, 

Keen, kind, knowing, 

Laconic, ladylike, languid, lawless, lazy, levelheaded, 
leisurely, lewd, liberal, licentious, lifeless, light, light- 
headed, lighthearted, likeable, listless, literary, lively 
longheaded, loquacious, loud, lovable, lowspirited, 
loyal, ludicrous, 

Magnetic, malevolent, malicious, malign, manly, ma- 



MENTAL TRAITS 109 

tronly, mature, mean, merciless, merry, methodical, 
mincing, misbehaving, mischievous, miserable, miserly, 
modest, moody, moping, morbid, morose, motherly, mo- 
tionless, mournful, motor, mouthy, muddled, mulish, 
musing, musical, mysterious, 

Naughty, natural, neglectful, nervous, nerveless, 
noiseless, noisy, noncommittal, nonsensical, normal, 
notional, 

Obdurate, obedient, obliging, obscene, obstinate, ob- 
serving, obstreperous, odd, offhanded, officious, offish, 
old, oldfashioned, oldmaidish, openhearted, opinion- 
ated, opposing, optimistic, orderly, ordinary, original, 
ostentatious, outspoken, overbearing, overwrought, 
overlearned, 

Painstaking, palavering, particular, passionate, pas- 
sive, peculiar, penurious, perfect, perplexed, perse- 
vering, persistent, persuasive, pessimistic, perverse, 
petulant, petty, pigheaded, pious, plausible, pleasant, 
playful, plucky, pliable, poetic, poised, polite, politic, 
pompous, popular, possessed, positive, practical, praise- 
worthy, precautious, precipitate, precise, precocious, 
prejudiced, prepossessing, presumptious, pretending, 
pretentious, prevaricating, prim, priggish, problematic, 
procrastinating, profuse, progressive, prolix, promis- 
ing, prompt, proper, prosaic, protesting, provoking, 
proud, prudent, prudish, punctilious, punctual, pure, 

Quarrelsome, querulous, queer, questioning, quick, 
quickwitted, quiet, quizzical, 

Rash, rational, reasonable, reckless, rebellious, recon- 
dite, refined, reflective, refractory, regular, regretful, 
religious, reproachful, resentful, reserved, resolute, re- 
sourceful, respectful, responsive, restful, restless, re- 
strained, reticent, revengeful, roguish, romantic, 
rough, rowdyish, rugged, rude, 



110, INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

Sad, sagacious, sanctimonius, sanguine, sardonic, 
saucy, saving, scatterbrained, scheming, scholarly, 
scrupulous, sedate, secretive, sedentary, selfconceited, 
selfconscious, selfcontrolled, selfish, selfpossessed, self- 
reproachful, selfrighteous, selfsatisfied, self sufficient, 
selfwilled, senseless, sensible, sensitive, sententious, 
sentimental, serene, serious, servile, sexual, shallow, 
shamefaced, sharp, sharpwitted, shiftless, shifty, shil- 
ly-shallying, shoddy, showy, shrewd, shrinking, shy, 
sideling, silent, silly, simple, simulating, sincere, 
slangy, sluggish, slovenly, slick, slippery, slothful, 
smart, smirking, smiling, snappish, snarling, sneaky, 
sneering, snickering, snuffling, sober, soberminded, so- 
ciable, social, soft, softhearted, solemn, solitary, so- 
phisticated, sordid, sorrowful, soulless, sour, spas- 
modic, spirited, spiritless, spiritual, spiteful, spon- 
taneous, sportive, spoiled, sponging, sprightly, staunch, 
stagey, steady, stealthy, stiff, still, stingy, stirring, 
stolid, stormy, straightforward, strange, strenuous, 
stubborn, studious, stupid, sturdy, submissive, sub- 
servient, subtle, suffering, suggestible, sullen, super^ 
ficial, surly, superior, suspicious, sulky, sullen, swag- 
gering, swearing, sweet, sympathetic, systematic, 

Taciturn, tactful, talebearing, talented, talkative, 
tantalizing, tardy, tasteful, tasteless, tattling, teach- 
able, teasing, tedious, tempestuous, tenacious, tender, 
tenderhearted, testy, thankful, thankless, thickskulled, 
thievish, thinking, thoughtful, thoughtless, thrifty, 
tidy, timeserving, tired, tireless, torpid, touchy, tough, 
tractable, tranquil, treacherous, tremulous, tricky, 
trim, trifling, troublesome, trustful, trusty, truthful, 
tumultuous, tyrannical, 

Unaccountable, unaffected, unassuming, unbalanced, 
unbelieving, unbending, uncharitable, unchaste, un- 



MENTAL TRAITS 111 

civil, "unclean, uncomfortable, unconcerned, uncon- 
scious, undaunted, underhanded, uneasy, uneven, 
unfaithful, unfair, unfeeling, unforgiving, unfriendly, 
ungainly, ungovernable, ungrateful, ungraceful, un- 
happy, uninterested, unkind, unkempt, unpleasant, 
unprincipled, unreasonable, unreliable, unscrupulous, 
unselfish, unsettled, unsociable, unthinking, untruth- 
ful, unwholesome, unwilling, unworthy, upright, up- 
roarious, urbane, useful, 

Vacant, vain, valiant, variable, vehement, versatile, 
vicious, vigorous, vindictive, violent, virtuous, viva- 
cious, voluptuous, voracious, vulgar, 

Waggish, wanton, warmhearted, wary, wasteful, 
waspish, weak, wellbred, wellmeaning, wellspoken, 
whimsical, whimpering, whining, wicked, wild, willful, 
willing, winsome, wistful, wise, witty, wideawake, 
wishywashy, worthless, wretched, witless, witty, woe- 
begone, worrying, worthy, 

Zealous. 

OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF AN INDIVIDUAL 

This blank calls for a description of a child largely in 
terms of adjectives. Underline all terms describing qualities 
that the child under observation distinctly possesses. Under- 
line twice if you think the quality is present in a striking or 
unusual degree. 

Name of child Sex Grade Age 

Nationality 

Attendance: regular, irregular? Home conditions: good, 
poor ? Health : good, poor ? Muscular strength : good, poor ? 
Is the child tall or short ( for his age ) , stout or slender, fleshy 
or thin, good looking or plain looking, well formed or poorly 
formed ? 

Character. — Is the child good-natured, agreeable, well-dis- 
posed, contented, too good-natured, over-social, ill-natured, ill- 



112 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

disposed, disagreeable, sensitive, revengeful, jealous, complain- 
ing? Generous, obliging, selfish, disobliging? Affectionate, 
sympathetic, lacking in affection, cruel, a tease, a bully, over- 
affectionate ? Obedient, disobedient, balky, willful, " tough," 
over-docile? Honest, frank, truthful, trustworthy, self-respect- 
ing, dishonest, sly, untruthful, without self-respect, mischievous, 
over-conscientious? Modest, confident, conceited, bold, proud, 
bragging, timid, bashful, babyish, self -depreciating ? Earnest, 
ambitious, serious, cheerful, frivolous, " funny," over-talkative, 
a giggler, sad, over-anxious? Energetic, calm, self-controlled, 
quiet, nervous, excitable, emotional, lacking in self-control, 
restless, lifeless, lacking energy? Refined, coarse, neat, un- 
tidy, over-fastidious, polite, impolite? 

Mental Work.— Is the child industrious, lazy, patient, im- 
patient, persistent, easily discouraged, attentive, inattentive, in- 
tense, listless? Quick, accurate, thoughtful, careful, slow, 
inaccurate, thoughtless, careless? Original, a memorizer, re- 
tentive, forgetful? 

Manual Work (e. g. drawing) — Is the child accurate, skill- 
ful, quick, neat, quiet, careful, inaccurate, awkward, slow, un- 
tidy, noisy, careless? Are the child's larger movements (as 
in walking) quick, graceful, slow, awkward? 

Class Standing. — Arithmetic: good, poor? Language: 
good, poor? Geography: good, poor? Nature Study: good, 
poor? History: good, poor? Reading: good, poor? Music: 
good, poor? Drawing: good, poor? 

Play. — Is the child rough, active, quiet, retiring, lifeless ? 

Describe in detail (on the back of the blank) any marked 
peculiarity of the child ; any unusual ability or disability, men- 
tal or physical. Specify any bad habit. Remark upon any- 
thing else of interest in regard to the child. 

Teacher. 

Date 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 113 

VIII 

THE EMOTIONAL LIFE 

The study of the emotional life is probably 
the most important chapter in the< study of 
individuality, for not only are the emotions 
the foundation of all the practical life, but they 
enter into the abstract intellectual functions in 
various ways. Failure to understand the emo- 
tional life of those whom they teach is probably 
the cause of more bad pedagogy on the part of 
teachers than any other cause, for although the 
emotions are so fundamental a part of the life 
they are the very part, the full meaning of 
which it is least easy to communicate, and which 
is most often purposely hidden from the ob- 
server. 

To understand the emotional life of a child, 
observation of conduct as a series of connected 
acts is required. Many characteristics, inter- 
ests, habits, and deficiencies that may seem per- 
plexing when considered in themselves become 
plain when the dominating emotions are under- 
stood. Especially such primary emotions as 
fear, anger, self-love, sexual-emotion, sorrow, 
anxiety, need careful scrutiny — as well as the 
more complex or higher emotions such as those 
that are shown in the social, religious, moral, 
and aesthetic life. As to methods of studying 
emotion in the child, and the extent to which 



114 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

the child should be made a participant in the 
investigation of his own emotional life, there 
will probably be differences of opinion. The 
importance of the subject, however, and the 
great need of more light upon the emotional 
nature of the child demand that serious at- 
tention be given the subject, especially those 
phases of it that concern the teacher. The con- 
duct of the child should be observed in order 
to detect the prevailing moods and emotions. 
Information that can be obtained in the school- 
room should be supplemented by accounts ob- 
tained from the home, and in some cases, from 
companions of the child. To what extent the 
child should be made to report about his own 
emotions will depend upon the relations be- 
tween investigator and child and the means he 
may have of turning the information he may 
gain to the service of the child. But it should 
be understood by all teachers that the school 
does not as a rule deal with the child in his 
most individual aspects, and that the very least 
one can do for the nine-tenths of the child 
that we do not teach is to understand it. 

Fear. Fear, and its derivatives, anxiety 
and worry, should be carefully studied, for they 
may be the dominating moods in the life of the 
child. It should be known whether a child is 
naturally confident and fearless or timid; 
whether there are particular fears or aversions 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 115 

that influence conduct. Information should be 
obtained from the home about fears in infancy 
and early childhood ; whether the child has ever 
evinced exceptional or morbid fears; whether 
he has ever suffered from the effects of fright 
or shock of any kind. Has there been great 
fear of the dark or of imaginary animals 1 Are 
there any causes of worry or anxiety? In ex- 
ceptional cases insight into the child's fears 
will be the most important information that can 
be obtained about him, and in all cases an in- 
vestigation of this part of the emotional life 
is essential. 

Further information about fear can be ob- 
tained by questioning a child about his attitude 
toward objects that are commonly feared. 
Written exercises on the subject are allowable. 
A list of common objects of fear can be written 
and children asked to write about those they 
think one would be most afraid of and to tell 
why. The direct question as to what the child 
is himself most afraid of, and why, can be used, 
and he may be asked to tell in detail about 
some time when he was badly frightened. To 
detect subtle strains of fear and worry that lurk 
in the mind is not always easy, and the method 
cannot be reduced to rule. It should be kept 
in mind, however, that in any case of unsatis- 
factory conduct in a constitutionally timid 
child, even in conduct not apparently directly 



116 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

connected with, the emotion of fear, fears and 
aversions due to them may be the underlying 
causes. 

Anger. Anger in one or another of its 
forms may also be a dominating emotion 
throughout life. As irritability, jealousy, re- 
sentment, tendency to chronic fault-finding it 
may permeate all the conduct. The character- 
istics of the child's anger reactions should be 
studied. Is anger easily aroused, intense or 
feeble, quick to subside or long continued? 
What causes are most likely to excite it? What 
are its characteristic expressions? The child 
should be studied with regard to such descrip- 
tive terms as: Good-natured, agreeable, 
well-disposed, contented, too good-natured, 
ill-natured, ill-disposed, disagreeable, irritable, 
sensitive, revengeful, jealous, complaining, 
quick-tempered, sullen, cruel. 

Information about the qualities of the child's 
anger reactions can be obtained through his 
written opinions about situations in which 
teasing, injustice, accidental injury, perverse- 
ness of inanimate things, are involved. A list 
of common causes of anger can be written and 
the child requested to write about those he 
thinks would make one most angry and to 
tell why. Such themes as the following can be 
discussed — " When someone purposely breaks 
your new sled; " ■' When you are in a great 
hurry and find that your brother has hidden 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 117 

your hat ; ' ' " When your best friend tells tales 
about you that are not true; " and the like. 
Questions about the child's experiences with 
anger and its derivatives, his opinions about 
their effect on his conduct, his effort to over- 
come them, can be asked about under proper 
conditions. 

The child's habitual emotional tone, with re- 
gard to elation or depression, should be inves- 
tigated. There are normal variations within 
wide limits, and pathological departures in both 
directions. It should be ascertained whether 
the child is habitually cheerful, or sad, whether 
he is easily depressed, feels keenly slights, 
losses, and reproofs. Is the child easily moved 
to laughter, light-hearted, sunshiny, lacking in 
seriousness? Is he changeable or moody? In 
general is the child calm, apathetic, self-con- 
trolled, excitable, lacking in self-control? 

When the basic feelings such as have been 
suggested have been investigated the more com- 
plex attitudes and interests which they under- 
lie can be studied. Broadly speaking, the emo- 
tional life can be divided for study into moral, 
religious, social, and aesthetic emotions. These 
are not to be regarded, however, as entirely sep- 
arate compartments of the mental life, but as 
the accompaniments of reactions of the organ- 
ism in situations that overrun these philosophic 
boundaries in many ways. There is as yet no 
complete psychological analysis of the emotions, 



118 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

and therefore no completely systematic and 
scientific way of examining the emotional traits 
of individuals. 

The moral life. In noticing the moral traits 
of a child some of the characteristics that have 
been observed before must again be considered, 
but with special endeavor to see the effect of 
these characteristics upon conduct regarded as 
a social relation. The common descriptive 
terms that relate to moral conduct should be 
brought together and the child studied with 
reference to them. Such terms as the follow- 
ing should be considered: 

Agreeable, well-disposed, contented, too good-na- 
tured, over-social, ill-natured, ill-disposed, disagreea- 
ble, irritable, sensitive, revengeful, jealous, complain- 
ing, malicious, generous, selfish, obliging, disobliging, 
affectionate, obedient, yielding, obstinate, disobedient, 
balky, sympathetic, lacking in affection, cruel, teasing, 
bullying, over-affectionate, secretive, untruthful, will- 
ful, tough, over-docile, dishonest, sly, hypocritical, 
deceiving, without self-respect, mischievous, over-con- 
scientious, modest, haughty, indifferent, blase, inquisi- 
tive, serious, cheerful, lazy, frivolous, orderly, refined, 
coarse, neat, disorderly, untidy, over-fastidious, polite, 
impolite, innocent, pure-minded, obscene, vulgar. 

Such a description of morality, it is obvious, 
is not based upon a strictly philosophical con- 
ception of morality ; many of the qualities that 
are thus described can be regarded also as 
aesthetic, or morally indifferent, from the sub- 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 119 

jective standpoint, but they describe conduct 
with reference to its agreeableness to the ob- 
server. Many other terms could be included. 

Many test questions and problems have been 
used in studying the moral life of children; 
some of them suited well to the study of cer- 
tain individual differences. In general, how- 
ever, a child's written opinion about moral ques- 
tions shows degree of intellectual development 
rather than moral qualities of feeling and habit. 
Some of the questions that have been used are 
given below. The results that have been ob- 
tained by writers who have used them can to 
a certain extent be used for comparison in 
studying the moral development of children. 
Assigned as a series of compositions they will 
be likely to give considerable insight into 
the moral development of children, and will 
bring to light some peculiar and exceptional 
cases. In order to obtain good reactions from 
children by this method considerable interest 
must be roused in a general way in advance 
without suggesting answers to questions. 
Otherwise answers are likely to be brief and 
superficial. 

* i Mary, six years old, had a box of paints for 
her birthday. The next day, when her mother 
was down town, Mary painted some of the best 
parlor chairs. When her mother came home, 
Mary ran to her and said, ' 0, mother, come and 
see how pretty I have made the chairs look.' 



120 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

The chairs were spoiled. If you had been 
Mary's mother what would you have done? 
Why? " 

" Mary's parents told her not to sit on the 
floor. One day the teacher told her to sit on 
the floor in one of the kindergarten games. 
Whom ought Mary to have obeyed, and why ? ' ' 

" Hattie Smith's papa was very rich and 
bought her many beautiful things. When Hat- 
tie was nine years old she went to live with her 
Aunt Mary who was very kind to poor people. 
One day when Hattie was at school her aunt 
gave her old hood to a poor girl. When Hattie 
came home her aunt told her what she had done, 
and Hattie said, ' Why did you give it away? 
It is my hood. My papa bought it for me.' 
Her aunt told her that her papa had sent her a 
nice new one. But the next day at school Hattie 
sat next to the poor girl who wore her hood — 
Finish the story and make it end as it should." 

" Tell about some punishment you have re- 
ceived that you think was unjust. Why was it 
unjust? Tell about a punishment you have re- 
ceived that you think was just. Why was it 
just? " 

" James' father gave him a dog; but James 
often forgot to feed it, and the dog cried at the 
door. Then James' father took the dog and 
gave it to a kind little girl who lived down the 
street. Who had the best right to the dog ; the 
father, James, or the little girl? Why? " 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 121 

" One day the teacher left the room, and while 
she was gone several children in the room began 
to make a noise. The teacher heard the noise 
as she was coming back, but she did not know 
what children were out of order. As none of 
the class would tell, she kept the whole class 
after school. Was the punishment just or un- 
just? Why? " 

" Harry stole a dollar from his mother's 
purse. Some of it he spent for marbles, and 
with the rest he bought a knife. The next day 
he felt bad about it and told his mother what he 
had done. If you had been his mother what 
would you have done I ' ' 

1 ' Ella stole a dollar. Mary asked her where 
she got it. Ella said she would tell if she would 
promise to keep it a secret. Mary promised; 
so Ella told her that she took it out of her moth- 
er 's purse. Ought Mary to have told Ella's 
mother ! Why f Or why not ? " 

" Name three worst things to do. Why are 
they bad \ Name three best things to do. Why 
are they good? " 

Keligious emotions and interests. In the 
young child the religious ideas reflect for the 
most part the environment of the child with 
but little change. Individual differences are 
the result of differences in teaching. If how- 
ever the deeper roots of natural religion are 
investigated, it will be found that there are 
differences in capacity for emotional attitudes 



122 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

toward the unseen world, and in the imaginative 
expression of these feelings. In studying the 
religious feeling of a young child one must 
study some of his secular interests at the same 
time; such as his interest in Santa Claus, the 
characters of heroic tales, fairies, and the myth- 
ological persons that represent the abstract and 
the general. The method of the school compo- 
sition has been used to test the religious life 
of a child but it usually examines intellectual 
qualities rather than qualities of feeling. How- 
ever, where there is imaginative interest there 
is emotional attitude and something can be 
learned from the child's description of God, and 
his ideas of the soul and the future life, if the 
questions are put in such a way as to make him 
think rather than repeat what he has heard. 

Two traits of the religion life that have deep 
roots in fundamental emotions should be consid- 
ered with reference to individual differences. 
The first is the belief in the spirituality of 
things, which is a strong characteristic of child- 
hood but differs greatly among individuals. 
The second is the temperamental tendency 
toward or away from optimism about the good 
will of things in general toward the individual. 
In connection with the first topic the child's 
life of imagination, his belief in fairies, unseen 
worlds, spirits, mental traits in inanimate ob- 
jects, must be studied. With regard to the 
second topic the child's sense of himself as an 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 123 

individual must be studied. Already the in- 
vestigation of fear and other fundamental 
emotions and moods will have thrown some 
light upon the conditions underlying differ- 
ences in the capacity for faith. Individuals 
differ in their sense of isolation as an indi- 
vidual ; their feeling of the presence of spiritual 
companionship; in the sense of security as an 
individual in the midst of larger forces. Such 
differences determine differences in capacity 
for religious sentiment, feeling of dependence, 
and faith. This is an obscure region in the 
personality of the child, and such suggestions 
as these about the psychology of the religious 
life are about all that can be given in the way 
of directions for a preliminary study of the 
religion life of the child. 

Esthetic feelings and interests. In study- 
ing the aesthetic life of the young child a some- 
what broader conception of aesthetic feeling 
than is commonly adopted for the purposes of 
philosophic studies of the beautiful must be 
used. The lovable, the beautiful, and the use- 
ful are confused in the child's mind, and there- 
fore examination for differences in the aesthetic 
sensibilities must include the study of a wide 
range of the child's interests, in which the idea 
of attractiveness is dominant. Neatness and 
fastidiousness with regard to dress should be 
noticed as a sign of a sense for the aesthetic. 
The child's interests in flowers, scenery, ani- 



124 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

mals, should be recorded. Musical interests 
and appreciation of musical values, interests in 
color, habits of order, appreciation of symmetry 
and form, must be taken into account. Be- 
sponse to rhythm, preferences among rhyth- 
mical forms and tempos, are also indications 
of the aesthetic sense of the child. 

.Esthetic feeling can be put to test in several 
ways. The simplest experiments are made 
upon color preferences. Small squares of vari- 
ous colors, in paper, can be used as test ma- 
terial. The series should contain various tints, 
shades, and tones. For a detailed account of 
the method of making these experiments one 
may consult Seashore's " Elementary Experi- 
ments in Psychology, ' ■ Chapter XV. Appre- 
ciation of form may be tested by asking for the 
child's preferences among geometrical forms 
and irregular figures carefully drawn upon 
cardboard. More complex stimuli can be used, 
such as a series of pictures, including portraits, 
landscapes, and color schemes. The composi- 
tion method can be used to advantage: the 
child can be asked to write his preferences for 
colors, pictures, music, poetry, and to state the 
reasons for his preferences. Such questions 
as " What is the best song you know? " 
11 What is the prettiest color for a dress! " 
can be asked. 

The child should be studied with reference to 
all those descriptive terms that apply to the 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 125 

aesthetic life in any way: such as neat, fastidi- 
ous, orderly, exact, musical, artistic, and the 
like. 

Social feelings and interests. These terms 
cover a wide range of activities of the child, 
some of which have already been investigated ; 
for in a sense all conduct of the individual is 
social in its implications. More particularly it 
is desired to know about the child's attitudes 
toward people. In general is it one of con- 
fidence, or fear and shyness! Especially in 
the presence of strangers is the child bold, re- 
served, timid? Does he associate freely with 
other children, or is he in any way anti-social 
or solitary? Is he liked by his companions? 
Is he inclined toward over-sociability, or too 
great dependence upon companionship for his 
interests and happiness? Is he envious or 
jealous of his fellows? Is his competitive 
spirit keen or weak? What is his attitude 
when he is beaten in games or surpassed in 
school work? 

The method of school composition can be used 
in ascertaining the child's attitude toward so- 
cial games, his preferences among these games, 
his ideas about chums and the like. All descrip- 
tive terms that apply to such social traits and 
activities as have been mentioned should be 
carefully examined, and the traits of the chil- 
dren under observation studied with reference 
to them. 



126 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

Many other aspects and details of the emo- 
tional life could be made the subject of observa- 
tion and experiment, and a much greater degree 
of psychological analysis could be brought to 
bear upon the problem; but such lines of in- 
vestigation as have been suggested will show 
the various methods of observing the emo- 
tional life, and will also indicate the complexity 
and the difficulty of the problem. Emotional 
qualities of the individual must be studied with 
reference to physical condition, to heredity, and 
to environment. Especially in cases in which 
there are marked moral defects or great eccen- 
tricity in the fundamental emotions the need 
of far-reaching examination of the physical life 
of the child must be recognized : for it is in the 
interest both of the child and of society that 
these conditions be understood as early in the 
child's life as possible. Many children, obvi- 
ously defective, pass through the schools at- 
tracting little serious attention to their condi- 
tion if they happen to have normal capacity 
for doing the work of the school — and it 
should be remembered that most of our insane 
and criminals have passed through the public 
schools, and also that their defects have had 
their origin largely in aberrations of the emo- 
tional life, and the physical conditions that are 
correlated with them. 



EMOTIONAL LIFE 127 



REFERENCES 



Many books and articles could be given as refer- 
ences in connection with the subject of study of the 
emotions. If one wishes to read the general psychol- 
ogy of the subject, Ribot's Psychology of the Emo- 
tions is probably still the best introduction. James' 
Principles of Psychology can be consulted. Articles 
by G. S. Hall in the American Journal of Psychology 
should be read, especially A Study of Fears, 1897, pp. 
147-249, and A Study of Anger, 1899, pp. 516-590. 
For references to many articles on topics connected 
with this chapter the Bibliographies of Child Study 
by L. N. "Wilson should be consulted. Barnes' Stud- 
ies in Education contains most of the articles from 
which the composition methods of studying moral 
ideas are taken. A few scattered references can be 
given to articles that will show how this method has 
been applied. 

E. H. Darrah: Children's Attitude Toward Law. 
Studies in Education, 213-216. 

E. Barnes: Punishment as Seen by Children. 
Pedagogical Seminary, III, 235-245. 

E. Barnes: Theological Life of a California Child. 
Pedagogical Seminary, II, 442-448. 

F. B. Gates: Musical Interests of Children. Jour- 
nal of Pedagogy, 1898, 265-284. 

W. S. Monroe: Development of the Social Con- 
sciousness of Children. Proceedings of the N. E. A., 
1898, 921-928. 



128 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

IX 

INTEKESTS AND INSTINCTS 

In adult society individuals obviously differ 
greatly in their interests. In part this seems 
to be the result of environment or circumstance. 
But there appear to be also inherited or innate 
differences in adaptability of the organism to 
particular tasks or habits. These deep-seated 
tendencies act selectively upon the environment, 
and the environment reacts in a way to confirm 
and modify the original differences. 

The free activity of the child must be studied 
in order to detect those fundamental traits of 
interest that will later determine his practical 
conduct. The routine work of the school, which 
tends to conventionalize and make children 
similar to each other, conceals rather than dis- 
closes the traits that it is desirable to observe. 

The greatest of the interests of childhood is 
play, and in a sense it includes all others. One 
must avoid the error of thinking that the play 
interests often give definite indications of per- 
manent life-interests or abilities. It is the 
more general characteristic of play that is to 
be observed; the actual interests of the child 
often change with the season or the neighbor- 
hood. An account of the child's play interests 
obtained from the home will sometimes be 
illuminating. In general are his play interests 



INTERESTS AND INSTINCTS 129 

merely active or are they constructive? Is 
the free activity of the child relatively great or 
small? Are there strong play tendencies to- 
ward the aesthetic, the informational, or experi- 
mental? Is there interest in animals, in nature, 
in indoor life? Marked interests of any kind 
that are different from the ordinary should be 
closely observed and recorded. Imaginative 
fertility in games should be noticed, and capac- 
ity for leadership. Written accounts by chil- 
dren of their preferences for games may throw 
light upon their individual differences. The 
child should be asked to name the best outdoor 
games, the best indoor games, and to give rea- 
sons for each choice. 

Interest in sex is one of the most important 
topics in considering the instincts of the child, 
though less so in younger children than in the 
case of those approaching adolescence. Atti- 
tudes toward those of the opposite sex should 
be observed and especially precocity or unusual 
shyness or aversion should be noticed. Senti- 
mentality, especially on the part of boys, should 
be studied with reference to other traits of 
character. The whole subject of the develop- 
ment of sexual feeling, though so important for 
the understanding of an individual, belongs 
rather to the expert than to the preliminary 
examination. It should be understood, how- 
ever, that the subject is of central importance, 
that no study of an individual is complete with- 



130 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

out full knowledge of the subject, that eccen- 
tricities and aberrations in the sexual sphere 
are causes of much unsatisfactory conduct on 
the part of children that usually remains un- 
explained, or is attributed to the wrong cause. 

Property interest. This is a fundamental 
interest in the race, and its early manifesta- 
tions in the child should be observed. What is 
the child's reaction when his possessions are 
lost or taken! Does he show a strong sense 
of values? Is he generous or selfish with his 
possessions ? Is he careless of them, or does he 
tend toward the opposite habit? Are there any 
indications of the hoarding and hiding habits 
of the miser ? Is the child interested in earning 
and in saving money? 

Interest in collecting. Although interest in 
making collections is almost universal among 
children, and the kind of object that is collected 
at any time is largely determined by imitation, 
attitudes of children toward collecting vary 
much, and in his collecting interests the child 
evinces characteristics that will be likely to be 
permanent. Cases of unusually enthusiastic 
collecting should be noticed and also cases of 
apathy in the midst of a collecting epidemic. 
Natural propensities toward system and order, 
and perception of classification, can be seen in 
the child's disposition of his collections. A 
written exercise on the subject of collections 
can be assigned. The children should be asked 



INTERESTS AND INSTINCTS 131 

to name all the collections they have ever made ; 
which they have found the most interesting, 
and why; what has been done with them, why 
they were begun, and how far developed. 

Migration interests. Another interest that is 
manifested early in life, and which has a bear- 
ing upon permanent characteristics of the indi- 
vidual is the interest in wandering; related, it 
is believed, to the migratory instincts of the 
race. Is the child a stay-at-home child, or does 
he like to wander to new scenes? Does he take 
interest in a wide or narrow environment? Is 
he fond of exploration, discovery, excitement 
and danger f Does he show any morbid tenden- 
cies toward fear of the new or unknown? 
Something can be discovered about the child's 
migratory instincts by his reactions to such 
questions as: Where would you like best to 
spend a vacation? Where would you like best 
to travel? Why? How long would you like to 
live at home? When you leave home where 
would you like to go to live ? — and other similar 
questions. 

Ambitions. The child's actual ambitions at an 
early stage may be but a reflection of environ- 
ment, or expression of a stage of development, 
and yet they are, to a certain extent, prognostic 
in some of their characteristics. Ambitions that 
are expressed in strong play habits, especially 
interests in mechanical occupations, literary 
pursuits, and artistic work are probably indica- 



132 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

tive of permanent interest and natural adapta- 
tion in many cases. Compositions on the 
subject of adult occupations may give valuable 
information about a child's ambitions. Such 
questions as these can be asked : What do you 
wish to do when you are grown up? Why? Of 
all the people you have read about whom would 
you like most to be or to imitate? Why? 

Interests in school subjects indicate, in a 
measure, special abilities and types of mind. 
The child should be asked to write about his 
preferences for school subjects, and to give 
reasons for them. The interest expressed is to 
be studied in relation to the ability the child 
shows in the preferred subjects. The child with 
a marked interest in mathematical work should 
be studied with reference to indications of spe- 
cial interest, ability, or deficiency in other lines ; 
especially in such subjects as history, nature 
study, music and drawing ; and in memory work 
generally. Correlations among interests may 
be discovered that are based upon deep-seated 
psychological laws. 

Interests in literature. These interests are 
partly diagnostic of temperament and partly 
indications of stage of development. Excessive 
interest in books should be noticed as a sign of 
lack of motor interests ; in rare cases it certainly 
indicates exceptional ability in literary or scien- 
tific pursuits. Interests different from those of 
children of the same age should be studied in 



INTERESTS AND INSTINCTS 133 

cases in which they appear ; such as early inter- 
ests in fiction, and interests on the part of older 
children that show infantile traits. Children 
may be asked to write about their interests in 
books, to tell what book of all they have ever 
read they like best, and the reasons - for the 
preference. Names of ten books that they like 
can be called for; or names of all the books 
they have read, that they can remember. 

Other interests common to childhood should 
be examined and all indications of special inter- 
ests and ability should be noticed in connection 
with other traits of the child. Especially to be 
sought is information about that which is pecu- 
liar to the inner forces of the individual rather 
than to the effects of the educational process 
through which he has been put. It is difficult 
to distinguish between the two factors in in- 
terest, and it is still more difficult to distin- 
guish between developmental stage and perma- 
nent individual characteristic. The importance 
of interests in the life of an individual depends, 
moreover, not entirely upon the strength of the 
interests considered singly, but in their balance 
and interaction. Strong interest, and even 
great special ability, may exist side by side with 
other interests or tendencies that antagonize 
them, and perhaps in the end completely nullify 
them. 

It is particularly in studying the interests of 
the child that the relation of developmental 



134 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

stage to individual difference can be studied. A 
child may differ from the average of his own 
age because in some trait or many he has ad- 
vanced beyond the stage of that age or has 
lagged behind it; later these inequalities may 
be eradicated by the effect of environment or 
by accelerations or retardations of the growth 
processes. Or these departures from the av- 
erage rate of development may be permanent, 
and the departure may increase with age. The 
child may become a defective from actual defi- 
ciency or lack of balance among his functions — 
or in rare cases he may become a genius. Not 
all differences among individuals can thus be 
interpreted in terms of development of func- 
tions, but it can readily be seen that one cannot 
profoundly understand an individual without 
understanding the whole process of development 
of the child. 

The complexity of the individual comes 
clearly to light in observing interests, and their 
meaning. It can be seen that the purposive life 
can be conceived of as a sum of interests, and 
that these interests are balanced in the individ- 
ual, and so interrelated and checked one by the 
other, that a normal life, coordinated with the 
life of other individuals in mutually helpful 
ways usually results. But the development of 
interests is no mere unfolding of instincts ; for 
at the very beginning of life an intricate process 
of interaction commences between these innate 



INTERESTS AND INSTINCTS 135 

will elements on the one hand, and on the other 
the environmental forces, themselves highly 
complex, variable to a great degree, and increas- 
ingly so as civilization advances. Interests are 
the means of selecting environment, and the 
mind of the child being plastic, interests are 
produced and modified by the environment. 
Gradually these interacting forces of tempera- 
ment and environment come to balance, mental 
content and habit accumulate about definite in- 
terests, and the individual comes to that final 
differentiation that marks him off in adult life 
as a person performing a particular function in 
the intricate mesh of society. We understand 
an adult fairly well for practical purposes when 
we know the main content-groups of his mind, 
and something about the relative force of these 
groups in determining conduct. In the child 
these content-groups have not become formed, 
and the interests are still in a state of flux, 
revealing only here and there indications of per- 
manent form. 

Having now examined the life of the child 
from the standpoint of observation of his natu- 
ral interests, the attention can be turned to the 
effect of environment; to understand what it 
has contributed to the interests, and what, in 
fact, the actual cojitent of the child's mind is. 
From this point of view an interest arises in 
what the child had actually said, done, made, 
read ; what his experiences have been, where he 



136 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

had lived, what he has learned in addition to 
the content furnished him by the school. 

If the child's school experience has been in 
any way exceptional the circumstances should 
be known. The home conditions should be 
understood. Are they favorable to the develop- 
ment of many interests? Has the child lived 
in an atmosphere of interest in the large themes 
of current affairs? Has he been much influ- 
enced directly or indirectly by books? By oc- 
cupational interests? In general, is he well- 
informed, and in what topics does he seem to 
be most, and in what least, informed? 

The content of mind can be examined further 
by definite written or oral test. Such questions 
as the following can be used to test general in- 
formation; they can be modified to suit par- 
ticular conditions of the group to be tested : 

From what is cotton obtained? Linen, gas, 
kerosene oil, beer, brandy ? How is cloth made ? 
A nail, a tack, a shoe? What does a lawyer 
do? A broker, a banker? How does a manu- 
facturer make money? A railroad, a bank? 
How does an automobile go? A locomotive, a 
telephone, a telegraph instrument, wireless tele- 
graph, a phonograph, a piano, an organ? 
What is the cost of coal per ton? Sugar per 
pound, shoes, a house, a horse? Who is now 
King of England? Of Germany, Russia? 
Where is there war now? Who is Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States? The Senators from 



INTERESTS AND INSTINCTS 137 

the State? ^Representative from the District? 
Name rive physicians, five lawyers, five business 
men, and five clergymen in the city. How far 
is it from here to (name five large cities) ? 
What is the railroad fare to each? Name five 
people who have written books. Other ques- 
tions about current events, general and local, 
can be asked. The answers can be marked and 
graded in the manner of the ordinary examina- 
tion paper. 

Other questions enquiring about the experi- 
ence of the child can be asked, such as: Tell 
all you can about some city you have visited. 
What others could you tell about? What do 
you know about an ocean that you have seen 
for yourself? A river, a lake? Tell all you 
can about a steamboat, a sailing vessel, a hotel, 
a theater, a circus. What kind of factories 
have you visited? Tell all you can about each. 
What books have you read? What newspapers 
do you read? Tell about something you have 
read in a newspaper this week. Tell about 
some good way for a boy (or girl) to earn 
money. 

REFERENCES 

For additional reading in the subject of children's 
interests, instincts, and experiences, the Bibliography 
of Child Study by L. N. Wilson should be consulted. 
Many articles will be found under the headings of 
ambitions, interests, amusements, play, that will throw 
sidelights upon these topics of individuality. Most 



138 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

of the articles bearing most directly upon this chap- 
ter will be found in the Pedagogical Seminary, 
Barnes' Studies in Education, Proceedings of the 
N. E. A. An article by L. W. Kline, The Migratory 
Impulse vs. the Love of Home (Am. Jour, of Psychol- 
ogy, Vol. 10, pp. 1-81), can be mentioned especially 
as an excellent attempt to interpret interests in child- 
hood in relation to an evolutionary conception of their 
origin. Books on Child Development such as those 
of Chamberlain, Tanner, Kirkpatrick, should be read. 



SOME GEaSTEEAL. CHABACTEEISTICS OF INTEEEST 

In addition to those traits of the life of emo- 
tion, instinct, and interest that have been de- 
scribed there are certain others that are related 
in a special way to the development of intelli- 
gence. They can perhaps best be designated 
as qualities or factors of interest. Included 
under this topic would be an investigation of 
qualities of attention, habits of imitation, curi- 
osity, interests in experimentation and in men- 
tal activity for its own sake, susceptiblity to 
suggestion. To investigate all the traits that 
are brought to view in taking this attitude in 
observing the individual would require access 
to the exact methods of the laboratory, and an 
intimate knowledge of the methods of psycho- 
logical analysis, for some of the most central 
themes of psychology are here approached. 



TRAITS OF INTEREST 139 

But enough can be accomplished in a prelim- 
inary study to show the bearing of these quali- 
ties of the individual upon his intellectual 
development, and to indicate differences among 
individuals and the methods of observing them. 

Attention. Facts about the attention of the 
child under observation should be ascertained; 
whether his attention is generally easy to gain 
and hold ; whether, when he is working at tasks 
that do not appeal to his natural interests, he 
is strongly attentive and persistent, or whether 
the attention is fluctuating, easily interrupted, 
and lacking in persistence. Deficiency of atten- 
tion may be due to lack of effort, or to lack of 
ability to concentrate, or to both. Comparison 
of the child's habits of attention and interest 
when working at tasks that are intrinsically 
uninteresting with his attitudes in preferred 
work or play, will throw some light upon the re- 
lation of effort to capacity for concentration. 

The child's spontaneous interests in acquir- 
ing knowledge should be noticed; as expressed 
in curiosity, habits of enquiry, experimentation, 
habits of observation. Curiosity can be defined 
as the desire to know, without special reference 
to need or use. Does the child under observa- 
tion possess this quality in a marked degree? 
Does he show a desire to gain information for 
a purpose, and is he persistent in his efforts 
to gain it? Does he seem to have spontaneous 
interests in learning, or does he merely absorb 



140 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

what is assigned him to learn? Does he ask 
questions frequently, and does he take interest 
in learning by testing or experimenting? Does 
the child seem to have a keen sense of truth, 
and to desire to get to the bottom of a question? 
Is he critical, or is he readily satisfied with the 
answer that is given him? Does he try to prove 
statements for himself, to seek authority for his 
opinions, to demand it of others? Does the 
child seem to enjoy mental work for its own 
sake? Does he like to do hard problems, and 
to get the answer for himself? Or does he 
readily give up, and ask for help? Does he 
enjoy solving puzzles, and what kind of puzzles 
interest him most ? Is he patient and persistent 
in solving them, or is he impatient and irritable ? 
Does he enjoy exercises in which the mind is 
allowed free play, as in imaginative construc- 
tion in planning stories, plays and the like? Is 
he often in a " brown study " or subject to 
states of absorption or reverie (which must be 
distinguished from " just looking ")? Does 
he generally seem mentally active when not 
working at definite tasks? Is the child imi- 
tative, as in preferences, dress, manner, in 
games? Or is he independent in his views, 
habits and the like? Is he suggestible, and does 
he readily accept advice ? 

Many of the characteristics mentioned above 
are accessible to experimental methods, and 
some of the most interesting problems of ex- 



TRAITS OF INTEREST 141 

perimental psychology center in these topics. 
Experiments upon attention can be performed 
upon a class. Sheets of paper containing sixty 
problems in multiplication should be prepared, 
two places in the multiplicand and one in the 
multiplier. The children are directed to multi- 
ply as rapidly as possible for two minutes. 
The point that is then reached is marked. 
Then an interesting story is read aloud to the 
children until their attention is well aroused. 
Then, while the story is continued, two minutes 
more of the mathematical work, done as before 
at greatest speed, are required. The amount 
and quality of the work done with distraction 
is to be compared with the amount and quality 
done without it. The numerical result is a 
measure, in a way, of a quality that appears 
in much of the child's work, but one that is 
psychologically complex. Both willingness and 
ability to concentrate are involved. One child 
may with less effort turn the attention away 
from the story because he is less interested in 
the story, or because the mathematical work 
appeals more strongly to him. Some are in- 
cited to greater effort than others by the ele- 
ment of competition that is involved. A sense 
of duty and literal obedience influences others. 
Numerical results, therefore, need analysis and 
interpretation. By varying the conditions and 
material of the experiment one or another fac- 
tor can be emphasized. For a second test, 



142 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

words can be copied from a book and such dis- 
tractions as music or loud noise can be used. 
But the result is always a measure of a com- 
plex made up of both ability and willingness 
to work under certain conditions. The factor 
of effort can be made more uniform by strongly 
exciting competition, by giving rewards for the 
best work and other means, and so an approxi- 
mately pure power of concentration for a 
particular form of work may be tested. The 
most interesting result of class experiments 
upon attention is likely to be the exceptional 
record. Experiments that take the child away 
from the routine ways of applying the mind 
such as are common in the schoolroom, al- 
though they test the same abilities, are likely 
to reveal aspects of the mental organization 
that have not before been observed. The re- 
sults may throw light upon abilities and disabili- 
ties of the child that underlie qualities of his 
school work. 

Habits of observation can be tested in several 
ways. Written exercises can be assigned call- 
ing for description from memory of familiar 
objects. Such questions as these can be used: 
Tell all you can remember about the appear- 
ance of the front entrance of the schoolhouse. 
Tell all you can about the back of the school- 
room. Which way do the seeds of an apple 
run? Of a pear? How does a cat come down 
a tree? How many legs and how many wings 



TRAITS OF INTEREST 143 

has a fly? Additions to such questions can 
readily be made, and the results can be graded 
and marked like the ordinary examination 
paper. 

An interesting experiment that will test the 
same trait of children can be performed upon 
a class. Time should be chosen when there is 
a short intermission in the school work. Some- 
one enters the room by prearrangement, goes 
to the desk and speaks to the teacher in low 
tones, meantime performing some apparently 
unintentional act, such as taking a flower from 
the desk and smelling it, and then replacing it. 
He may then start to leave the room, return to 
the desk, and get a book as though he had for- 
gotten it, and then leave the room. The test 
action can be simplified or complicated in any 
way to suit the needs of the experimenter. 
The children are then asked to describe in writ- 
ing what happened in the room, to give details 
of the appearance of the visitor, and to tell 
precisely what he did. Children should be al- 
lowed time for the writing until they are satis- 
fied that they have told all they can remember. 

Many experiments upon suggestibility have 
been devised. One that will show something 
about the characteristics that are to be studied, 
but which will not be suitable to bring out de- 
grees of difference sufficient for a study of indi- 
viduality, can be made as follows : An atomizer 
is prepared containing pure water. After a few 



144 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

minutes ' talk about flowers or perfumes, in 
which some familiar odors are mentioned, the 
children are told that something is to be sprayed 
about the room, and they are to write after- 
wards whether they have smelled anything and 
what it was ; whether it was very strong, or just 
ordinary, or barely strong enough to be noticed. 
The water is then sprayed in several parts of 
the room. The questions are repeated and the 
children are then allowed to write their answers. 
Among younger children, nearly all will re- 
spond to the suggestion in some degree, but 
some unusual cases are likely to be discovered 
in which there is a high degree of suggesti- 
bility. 

Another instructive experiment upon sug- 
gestibility which can be performed without 
apparatus, and which will admit of numerical 
calculation, is the following: Twelve cards, 
80 mm. by 40 mm., are prepared. In the cen- 
ter of the cards lines are to be drawn, one 
on each card. The lines should be drawn 
lengthwise of the cards with equal margin at 
each end. Eight of the lines are to be drawn 
60 mm. in length and one each 48, 36, 24, 12 mm. 
Sheets of paper (ruled) of foolscap size are to 
be provided. The method of experimenting is 
as follows: The cards are shown to the child 
one at a time and in this order — 12, 24, 36, 
48, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60. After the first 
line is shown, and before the next appears, the 



TRAITS OF INTEREST 145 

child is requested to draw the length of the line 
(the line still remaining before him) upon the 
top line of the ruled sheet, beginning at the left 
margin of the paper. The next line is shown 
and reproduced in the same manner ; and so on 
until all are drawn. Nearly all children will be 
influenced by the increasing steps to continue to 
make them in reproducing the lines of 60 mm. 
length. Various degrees of suggestibility will 
be observed. Some will continue to make the 
lines longer to the end of the series. Others 
will make a correction when the last line drawn 
is obviously longer than the new copy, and will 
commence another increasing series. The 
amount and character of suggestibility shown 
can be estimated by inspection of the papers 
and the children can be graded or grouped ac- 
cording to the degree of suggestibility. Or the 
amount by which lines after the fifth exceed the 
length of the fifth line can be used as a rough 
index of suggestibility. 

A similar experiment can be made with cart- 
ridge shells loaded with shot. A series of 
weights can be arranged weighing 20, 40, 60, 
100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100 grams. The 
weights are to be lifted in succession with the 
thumb and forefinger of the right hand. When 
the first weight is lifted the child is told that it 
weighs 20 grams, and he is asked to estimate 
the weight of each of the others as it is lifted. 
The experimenter records the weights that are 



146 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

announced and the amount of suggestibility is 
estimated as in the preceding experiment. 

REFERENCES 

Wilson's Bibliography may be consulted for titles 
of articles on attention, imitation, suggestion, and the 
like. For further reading in methods of psychological 
experimentation Seashore's Elementary Experiments 
in Psychology can be read, or Sanford's Course in 
Experimental Psychology. The most complete trea- 
tise on the psychological laboratory and its methods 
is Titchener 's Experimental Psychology, in 4 volumes. 
A few special articles can be mentioned such as: — 

E. H. Haskell : Imitation in school children. Peda- 
gogical Seminary, III, 30-47. 

C. Frear: Imitation. Pedagogical Seminary, IV, 
382-396. 

M. H. Small: The Suggestibility of Children. 
Pedagogical Seminary, IV, 176-220. 

J. A. Gilbert : Mental and Physical Development of 
School Children. Studies from the Yale Psycholog- 
ical Laboratory. 



XI 

SENSES AND PEECEPTION 

In general psychology, the experimental study 
of the simplest mental processes such as sen- 
sation and perception is much further ad- 
vanced than the study of the more complex 
processes. In the study of individuals, on the 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 147 

other hand, attention seems rightly to have been 
most directed to those larger functions that are 
most characteristic of individuality. The study 
of the elementary processes by the exact meth- 
ods of the laboratory, although an important 
part of the study of differences among individ- 
uals, is a part that as yet bears less directly 
upon practical problems. It is possible that in 
a more advanced stage of development of the 
subject relations between sensory processes 
that can be measured simply and exactly and 
the complex processes that cannot thus be esti- 
mated may be so well made out that differences 
in the former may be used as a measure of dif- 
ferences in the latter — and thus make it pos- 
sible to perform a simple series of experiments 
that will test the individual. But at present, as 
we have seen, no such testing of the individual 
is possible. The extended experimental study 
of the senses belongs rather to general psychol- 
ogy than to the study of individuals, at least 
for the purposes of obtaining a practical knowl- 
edge of them. Yet it is both interesting and 
important to discover some of the differences 
among individuals in the elementary processes 
that general psychology aims to isolate for 
study. 

Vision. The functions of the eye are com- 
plex, and the differential study of vision could 
be made the subject of a long course of experi- 
mentation. Such functions as sensitivity of the 



148 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

eye to light, acuity of vision, sensations of color, 
extent of the field of vision, muscular functions 
of the eye can be measured with precision. 
The methods used are, for the most part, those 
used in general psychology and are the same for 
adult and child. They can be studied at length 
in the standard works on experimental psy- 
chology. 

Discriminative sensibility for brightness can 
be examined by means of a series of grays 
according to the method described below. For 
other methods of testing that require some 
form of color mixer, one can consult Sanford's 
" Course in Experimental Psychology, ■ ' p. 128. 

Color discrimination. For studying color 
discrimination, Gilbert used a series of spe- 
cially prepared shades of red cloth, so dyed that 
the difference between two successive shades 
could not be detected by anyone. The test can 
be performed by means of a series of shades of 
red in paper, or test material can easily be pre- 
pared that will do well for practice purposes. 
A solution of potassium permanganate can be 
prepared, making a bright red. Fill a two- 
ounce vial with the liquid and mark it on the 
bottom (1). Add two ounces of clear water to 
the solution and fill another bottle, marking it 
(2) ; and so on until there are twenty-five or 
thirty bottles filled. The colors should appear 
so graded that no successive ones can be distin- 
guished. The bottles are then arranged in an 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 149 

irregular order and the child is asked to sort 
them into groups, putting together those that 
appear alike to him. The number of groups 
that are made will be a measure, inversely, of 
his color discrimination. 

More accurate methods of using a color series 
for testing discrimination can be practiced ; the 
methods are such as are employed in many 
forms of psychological experiment. One of 
the medium shades is chosen as a standard. 
This and the shade next above or below are 
shown to the child together, and he is requested 
to say which is the lighter. If he cannot tell, 
the standard is then to be compared with the 
next but one in the series, and so on until two 
are found about which the child gives correct 
judgments in about three-fourths of the trials. 
In testing, the two shades to be judged should 
always be shown together, sometimes the lighter 
and sometimes the darker on the left. The dis- 
tance apart in the series of the two shades that 
the child* thus decides to be different is the meas- 
ure of his discrimination for this particular 
series of shades. 

Such tests, it must be understood, are but in 
part tests of sensory keenness of the individual. 
They are, to a certain extent, also tests of atten- 
tion and general intelligence. Several traits 
should be observed in making any test of dis- 
crimination; the fineness of the judgment as is 
indicated by the numerical expression de- 



150 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

scribed above, and the variability of the judg- 
ment as indicated by errors or by the results of 
tests at intervals. The manner in which the 
child delivers the judgment should be noticed; 
also, the degree of confidence expressed, and the 
extent to which he looks to the experimenter for 
confirmation of his judgments. 

Discrimination for visual lengths can be 
tested by having the child mark the center of 
strips of paper of equal length. Many trials 
should be made, the average error found, and 
also the average deviation as a measure of 
variability. 

Eapidity of perceptive processes can be tested 
without complicated apparatus. For test ma- 
terial a printed page can be used, or better, 
specially printed slips, containing lines of capi- 
tal letters, set in haphazard order. Ten lines, 
fifty letters in each line, including ten A's, will 
be found convenient. The lines should be set 
solid, that is, without spacing between the let- 
ters. At a signal the child begins to cross out 
all the A's as rapidly as possible. Work is 
continued for two minutes. Both quality and 
quantity of the work should be taken into ac- 
count. Several types of children will be found, 
such as the rapid-accurate, slow-accurate, rapid- 
inaccurate, slow-inaccurate. The test should 
be repeated on several occasions and the aver- 
age taken. Irregularity in the work from day 
to day is to be noticed as well as the amount 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 151 

done. The process can be complicated by hav- 
ing the child cross out more than one letter. 

This method can be used also as a test of 
mental fatigue. Cards containing twenty lines 
should be used and the work continued until 
all are marked. A signal is given at the end 
of each thirty seconds, and the point then 
reached marked. The quantity and quality of 
the work for each period are then to be esti- 
mated. 

Eapidity of perceptive processes can be tested 
in other ways. Cards can be prepared con- 
taining geometrical figures cut from black pa- 
per, ten on each card in an irregular order. 
Other series can be prepared consisting of 
squares of colored paper or capital letters. In 
testing, the cards are exposed for a period of 
two seconds, and the child is asked to tell all 
he saw during the exposure. With some prac- 
tice with a split second watch the timing can 
be done sufficiently accurately ; or if there is no 
watch, a pendulum can be made from a piece of 
twine and a weight adjusted to beat one or two 
second periods. 

A still more complicated process involving 
choice made as rapidly as possible can be tested. 
It is a process that is typical of many practical 
acts, and experiments have shown that it stands 
in close relation to the general intelligence of 
the child. An ordinary pack of playing cards 
can be used. Some preliminary practice may be 



152 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

necessary in order to make the children famil- 
iar with the four kinds of cards. In testing, 
the child is requested to sort the cards as rap- 
idly as possible into four packs. The pack is 
held face downward. Better material for mak- 
ing this test is a pack of specially printed cards 
bearing large capital letters, A's, B's, C's, D's, 
in equal numbers. The letters should be large 
and distinct, and glazed cards used. 

A series of experiments should be made in 
connection with the test just described, in which 
the child deals the cards into four piles without 
sorting. If this time is subtracted from the 
time of sorting with choice, the time of the 
choice processes is roughly measured. 

Experiments made with similar tests upon 
children in New York City show a close corre- 
lation between ability in the test and the gen- 
eral intelligence of the child as shown by the 
relation of his age to grade in school. The 
sorting time was also found to be closely corre- 
lated with ability to deal cards without choice, 
with rate of tapping, marking out A's, and with 
memory for digits, the amount of correlation 
varying in the different tests. 

REFERENCES 

The works on Experimental Psychology by Tit- 
chener, Sanford, Seashore, and Witmer can be con- 
sulted for additional experiments. See also Gilbert, 
article previously mentioned, for methods of testing 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 153 

color discrimination. Many references will be found 
in Wilson's Bibliography under headings: — vision, 
color perception, judgment, discrimination. 



XII 

SENSES AND PERCEPTION 

(Continued) 

For testing discriminative sensibility for 
sounds, apparatus is needed, but the method 
of experimenting can be illustrated and esti- 
mates made sufficiently exact for present pur- 
poses by means of a devise that can readily 
be arranged. A board a few inches square 
should be provided and covered with thick cloth 
or felt glued smoothly to the surface. A scale 
marked in fractions of an inch is attached ver- 
tically to the side, and should be two feet in 
length. For testing, marbles of equal size and 
weight can be used. Starting from a given 
height a sound is made by dropping the marble 
upon the board ; this is the standard sound with 
which a louder sound is to be compared. The 
standard sound should be made and immedi- 
ately afterward a sound a little louder, made by 
dropping a marble from a greater height. If 
no difference is detected, a greater distance is 
tried, the standard and the test sound being 
made in close succession. The distance is to be 
increased gradually, sometimes the louder sound 



154 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

being made first and sometimes the standard, 
until a point is reached at which about three- 
fourths of the answers are correct. The dis- 
tance between the height of the standard and 
the height thus found can be used as a measure 
of discriminative ability for this particular 
series of sounds. 

Discrimination for pitch of musical tones can 
be tested satisfactorily only with apparatus and 
laboratory methods. Gilbert devised a pitch 
pipe with a movable piston and a scale show- 
ing changes to ^ of a tone. For exact tests, 
tuning forks are usually used. For practice 
purposes a simple sonometer can be devised 
by stretching two brass wires across the top of 
a table an inch from the surface. The wires are 
attached at one end and weighted at the other. 
The weights are adjusted so that the two strings 
when sounded together appear to be in perfect 
unison as judged by an acute ear. The child is 
then told to listen to the sounds as they are 
made in succession, the first being dampened 
before the second is produced, and to tell which 
is the higher in pitch. If no difference is de- 
tected weight should be added, and another 
judgment taken, and so on by the gradation 
method that has already been described, until 
a point is found at which there is an observable 
difference. The amount of weight that has 
been added is used as a measure of the dis- 
crimination for this particular experiment. 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 155 

Other experiments upon sound perception 
may bring to light interesting differences among 
children. Perception of rhythm can be tested 
by having the child tap with the end of a pencil 
in imitation of rhythms that are similarly 
tapped by the experimenter. One should begin 
with the simple musical rhythms and then try 
more complex combinations. The tapping 
should be slow and distinct. 

Experiments upon other senses can be in- 
cluded or not in this series according to the 
amount of practice in psychological methods 
that is desired. The practical results so far as 
the numerical estimates are concerned will be 
slight. But children are usually much inter- 
ested in such experiments and their actions in 
the tests are likely to be more illuminating to 
the amateur observer than the numerical 
records he will make. 

Sensitiveness of the skin to pressure is tested 
by means of very light weights called minimal 
pressure weights. They can be made from 
elder pith or cork if accurate scales such as 
are used in a chemical laboratory are accessi- 
ble. Eectangular prisms of the pith can be 
made, 5 mm. square, and the weights cut from 
these. Handles can be made by fastening a 
loop of hair to them. A series of from 2 milli- 
grams to 20 milligrams will be found suitable. 
Considerable skill and patience will be required 
to make an accurate set. In testing, the lightest 



156 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

weight is held by the loop on a pencil point or 
long needle and is then let down gently npon 
the back of the hand of the child to be tested, 
the eyes of the child being closed. If nothing 
is felt the next heavier weight is tried in the 
same way, always nsing the same spot on the 
hand. The testing is continned until pressure 
is distinctly felt. Several trials will be neces- 
sary, and care must be taken that the weight 
is held steadily, and that the child is not in- 
formed in any way by the movements of the 
experimenter when the weight is about to touch 
the skin. 

Discriminative sensibility to pressure is 
tested conveniently by cartridge shells loaded 
with shot. A series should be prepared using 
100 grams as a standard, or the experiment can 
be made with two test weights, the weight of 
the variable being changed by adding shot. 
Have the child close his eyes and place the 
standard weight upon the palm of his hand. 
Eemove the weight and test with a weight 
heavier by an imperceptible amount, and so 
continue until a weight is found perceptibly 
different from the standard weight. Care 
should be used in testing to vary the order in 
which standard and test weights are presented. 

Discrimination for double pressure on the 
skin has been tested for various purposes. It 
has been widely used as a test of fatigue, but 
is now somewhat discredited for that purpose. 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 157 

Delicacy of discrimination is also supposed to 
be correlated with intelligence. For testing 
for double pressure sense, a special form of 
apparatus, the aesthesiometer, is used, but in 
want of that, a carpenter's compass will do 
fairly well. The object of the experiment is to 
determine how far apart the compass points 
must be placed, when brought simultaneously 
into contact with the skin, if they are to be felt 
as two points rather than a single point. The 
points should first be placed close together, and 
the wrist of the child touched, care being taken 
that the two points touch the skin exactly si- 
multaneously. The front of the wrist can con- 
veniently be used, and the points are to be 
placed lengthwise of the arm. If the points 
are not felt distinctly as two, the distance is to 
be increased by small amounts until a point is 
reached at which correct judgments are given in 
about three-fourths of the trials. The distance 
at which the points are then apart is carefully 
measured upon a millimeter scale. The points 
can then be placed at a distance apart at which 
they are certainly felt as two, and the child 
can be tested again, gradually decreasing the 
distance until there begin to be errors in about 
the proportion of one to three correct judg- 
ments. The two records should nearly coincide, 
and the average can be taken as a measure of 
the function that is tested. 

The accuracy with which a pressure point on 



158 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

the skin can be located can be measured thus : — 
Have the child close the eyes and touch his 
wrist firmly with the point of a pencil. Ask 
him to touch the same point with a pencil held 
in the other hand. Measure with a millimeter 
scale the errors that are made. Twenty or 
more trials should be made and the average 
taken, and also the average deviation from this 
distance in order to test the variability of the 
judgment. In testing, if the child is not satis- 
fied with the first point he touches he should be 
allowed to move the pencil. 

With a sharp point trace a line firmly on the 
wrist of the child moving the point as slowly as 
possible. Measure the distance the point must 
be moved before the child can tell in what di- 
rection the movement was made. Several trials 
are to be made, always lengthwise of the arm, 
but changing the direction frequently, now mov- 
ing from elbow to wrist, now from wrist to 
elbow. The palm of the hand and the tip of 
the forefinger can also be tested. 

With the large pressure weights and the same 
method that was used in testing discrimination 
for pressure, discriminative sensibility for 
lifted weights can be tested. The child is to 
lift now the standard now the test weight using 
the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. 

Temperature sense can be experimented upon 
roughly as follows: Fill a jar with water 
that feels neither warm nor cold. Put a ther- 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 159 

mometer into it and read the temperature. 
Fill another jar with water of the same temper- 
ature. The first jar is to be kept at the stand- 
ard temperature and the second is to be the 
variable, being gradually increased in tempera- 
ture by the addition of water of higher tempera- 
ture or by heating. The subject is tested thus : 
He first puts the hand into the standard jar 
and then into the test jar, proceeding as in other 
tests of discrimination until a perceptible dif- 
ference is detected. The results can be checked 
by proceeding from the clearly perceived dif- 
ference to the less perceptible. 

Pain sensation is usually tested by the algo- 
meter, an instrument consisting of a blunt test- 
ing point and a scale which registers amount 
of pressure. The temple algometer is the best. 
An algometer can easily be constructed by any- 
one with a little mechanical skill. In testing, 
the point is applied to the temple and pressure 
is exerted until the subject declares that the 
sensation just begins to be painful. If a num- 
ber of trials are made at different times ac- 
curacy can be attained in measuring individual 
differences. Much attention has been given by 
criminologists to the study of the pain sense, but 
there is so much uncertainty in interpreting re- 
sults that the conclusions from these studies 
are not likely to be very helpful in studying 
normal cases. Exceptional cases both of dull- 
ness and acuteness of pain sense should be 



160 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

studied with regard to other indications of ex- 
ceptional temperament or deficiency. 

Taste sensations can be tested simply by 
means of bitter, sour, salt, and sweet solutions. 
The best substances from which to make the 
test material appear to be saccharin for the 
sweet, phosphoric acid for the sour, sodium 
chloride for the salt, quinine sulphate for the 
bitter. The best method when great accuracy 
is not needed is to put into a burette a quantity 
of a strong solution of known strength and to 
drop this gradually into a glass containing a 
considerable quantity of water. The child is 
first to taste the water (which should be dis- 
tilled) taking as much as can be held in a small 
spoon, and putting it well onto the tongue. 
Then a little of the solution is to be added, and 
the water tasted again — and so on until the 
taste is clearly recognized. The amount of the 
solution that has been used can be read from 
the burette. To prevent guessing, the child 
can be tested with water and the test solution 
alternately. If his judgments are not correct 
in nearly all trials he must be tested again with 
a stronger solution. Tests can be made with 
each of the four materials, and the amount of 
each required to stimulate taste recorded. The 
numerical results are of course valuable only 
for comparison of individuals tested in the 
same way under exactly the same conditions. 

Another method of testing taste is to prepare 



SENSES AND PERCEPTION 161 

several glasses, each containing the same 
amount of distilled water, and to add from a 
solution of known strength to make dilutions of 
different strengths, graduated from one that 
cannot be detected by the keenest taste to one 
that can clearly be recognized by all. Tests can 
be made as in the previously described experi- 
ment. 

By using two burettes and two glasses the 
least differences or differential sensibility for 
taste can be measured. A standard solution 
of medium strength should be used, and by the 
method of gradation the increase in the strength 
that is required before a difference can be no- 
ticed must be found. The mouth should be 
rinsed with water after each test. 

Smell can be tested in several ways but re- 
sults are not likely to be so clear as in experi- 
ments upon taste. The least stimulus that can 
be sensed and the least difference can be meas- 
ured by means of the olfactometer, a simple 
instrument that can be made or purchased. 

A more convenient way of testing smell is by 
means of solutions of graduated strengths. 
Essence of clove is convenient to use and can 
be made by adding one part of oil of cloves to 
fifteen parts of alcohol (Sanford). The es- 
sence, mixed in various proportions with water, 
will make the proper test material. Several 
bottles should be prepared, containing a graded 
series of strengths of the solution. The sub- 



162 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

ject is requested to smell these, removing the 
stoppers one at a time and passing from the 
weakest solution until one is reached that can 
be recognized. Discriminative sensibility for 
smell can be measured by the gradation method 
by comparing a variable test solution with a 
standard. 

Though such experiments on the senses as 
have been described in this chapter and the 
preceding will not as a rule issue in practical 
results, so far as numerical records are con- 
cerned, exceptional cases of dullness or acute- 
ness of senses may be discovered, and all such 
cases should be studied carefully with regard 
to other exceptional traits. Either acuteness 
or dullness may accompany mental deficiency. 
Defects that occur in one sensory sphere are 
usually due to local causes sometimes insignifi- 
cant in nature, and testing of the senses may 
lead to their detection and removal. 

REFERENCES 

Literature on experimental psychology previously 
cited; and Wilson's Bibliography for references to 
touch, pressure, hearing, rhythm, smell, taste, tem- 
perature sense, and the like. 



MEMORY 163 

XIII 

MECHANISM OF THE MIND: MEMOEY 

The senses being the avenues by which ex^ 
perience is accumulated, some insight into in- 
tellectual characteristics of individuals should 
be obtained by studying them, especially in 
their relation to each other. Other informa- 
tion about the intellectual traits will have been 
obtained by the study of those impulses toward 
the development of intelligence that have been 
called characteristics of interest; but these fac- 
tors do not constitute all the variables in ele- 
mentary functions that underlie intelligence; 
for without certain other functions a " stream 
of consciousness " could not be built up at all, 
and experience could not be used in new sit- 
uations. These essentially mechanical func- 
tions of the mind can be studied under two 
general topics : memory and association. Mem- 
ory for present purposes can be denned as the 
power of retaining and reproducing impres- 
sions, and association as the power of connect- 
ing experiences in consciousness. This is not 
very satisfactory psychology, but will indicate 
the traits that are to be studied. Memory, as 
a matter of fact, is a very complex function or 
rather several functions are involved, and to a 
certain extent must be considered separately 
in studying individual differences. Memory 



164 INDIVIDUAL STUDY v 

power varies in the individual with the kind 
of material that is presented to consciousness; 
the memory may be good for one kind of mate- 
rial and poor for another, apparently not very 
different. 

In studying memory, observations can first 
be made of the qualities of the ordinary work 
of the child in school, for in school the memory 
functions are constantly brought into use, and 
can easily be observed. In general is the child 's 
memory good or poor? Is it better in some 
subjects than in others, or for some kinds of 
material or work in the same subject? Com- 
pared with other aspects of the child's intelli- 
gence does the memory appear to be good or 
poor? Are there marked peculiarities in the 
memory habits of the child, such as unusual 
ability in rote memory, power of retention for 
a long period, unusual rapidity of committing 
to memory? 

Some of the characteristics that can be no- 
ticed in the ordinary work of the child can be 
put to more exact test by simple experiments. 
A beginning can be made by testing the so- 
called pure or immediate memory for simple 
auditory or visual series of stimuli. For test- 
ing visual memory a series of cards should be 
prepared containing digits in irregular order. 
If large cards are used and care is taken to 
present them in good light, experiments can 
be made upon a class. Some of the cards 



MEMORY 165 

should contain six, some seven, and up to twelve 
digits in a line. In testing, a series of pre- 
liminary experiments can be made in order to 
discover the number of digits that can be re- 
produced nearly but not entirely correctly by 
the best in the class. A long series can then 
be made with this number. In testing, the 
cards are shown to the class one at a time, about 
as much time being allowed as would be given 
to a slow reading of the same number. Five- 
second periods can be used for nine digits, 
and time can be indicated by a pendulum or 
a metronome. The card is then covered and 
the children must write immediately what they 
have seen, putting the digits in the order in 
which they appeared on the card. The experi- 
ment is of course but an approximate test of 
pure visual memory; the child may repeat the 
digits to himself, and thus motor and auditory 
elements may be brought in. But it presents 
a situation in which visual stimulation predom- 
inates. 

To examine the auditory memory a similar 
method is used. The digits are read slowly 
and distinctly, special pains being taken not to 
group the sounds rhythmically. Immediately 
after the reading, the children must write what 
they have heard. In this case also the stimulus 
is not pure; the child may visualize as he lis- 
tens, and repeat to himself, thus bringing in 
secondary motor and visual elements. 



166 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

Care should be taken in performing these 
experiments to make conditions uniform for 
all children that are tested, and for each series. 
Besides accurate timing and uniformity in the 
manner of presenting the stimulus, attention 
should be called at a fixed time before the stim- 
ulus is to be presented. In computing results 
the number of digits that are correctly given 
in the right order is counted. The papers 
should be inspected also for the purpose of 
detecting qualities of the work that are not 
expressed in the numerical result, and for ex- 
ceptional cases. Ability to memorize, tested in 
this way, will be likely to show relation to the 
general intelligence of the child, but possibly 
not a very close relation, especially among 
older children. Eelatively poor memorizers 
may be found among bright children, and some 
dull children will be likely to make good records 
in the memory tests. 

The amount of this relationship can be 
studied by grading the pupils in a series with 
regard to record in the memory tests, and also 
grading them for their school work or averages 
in examinations in several subjects. The posi- 
tion of each child in the two series can be ob- 
served, mathematical methods such as described 
by Spearman can be applied to the records and 
the degree of correlation between the two 
records can be calculated. For this, more than 



MEMORY 167 

one series of tests must be made, and if possible 
two sets of school marks should be used. 

Other studies of memory can be made by 
using words, syllables, and letters for test ma- 
terial. Lists of words can be selected repre- 
senting various sense departments such as 
words of color, sound, taste, smell, action. A 
series of twenty words may be read to the chil- 
dren and after a short interval the words are 
to be written. The character of the errors and 
omissions are then to be studied in order to 
determine the relative excellence of memory for 
the different kinds of material. 

Individuals apparently differ with regard to 
the aspect of any complicated situation to 
which they attend, or which they best remem- 
ber ; whether its content as such or its form or 
relations. Stern thinks this difference one of 
the most important in determining intellectual 
types. He tests this habit by experiments in 
memory and rhythm. Three series of tests are 
made, one in which melodies without rhythm 
are presented, another in which rhythm with- 
out melody is used, and the third when the two 
are combined. 

Other methods of testing memory that have 
been used for practical tests in school will be 
likely to show a closer relation to the abilities 
used in the ordinary school task than the records 
for immediate memory, for they involve a test 



168 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

of the child's power to learn by repetition. A 
series of fifty digits is prepared, either in du- 
plicate on paper, or written on a blackboard 
and kept covered nntil used. When the atten- 
tion of the children is well aroused, the series of 
digits is exposed for ten seconds. They are 
then covered and the children must write all 
they can remember, placing them in the proper 
order. The digits are then exposed again un- 
der the same conditions, after which the 
children must again write all they can re- 
member — and so on until the whole list is 
reproduced. The number of exposures before 
the list is completed is the measure that is re- 
quired. Copying from a book can be substi- 
tuted for reproducing the digits. The child 
is allowed to copy as he pleases, and the number 
of the references to the copy he makes is ob- 
served. This test is supposed to show a close 
relation to the mental ability of the child for 
school tasks in general. 

A modification of this experiment can be 
made as follows : — A series of twenty-five 
digits is exposed as before, and the child is 
allowed time to read them twice. He is then 
to try to reproduce the series. The series is 
then again exposed as before, and another at- 
tempt made to reproduce it. The tests are con- 
tinued until the child has repeated the whole 
series accurately. The number of the expo- 
sures is recorded, and the papers are studied 



MEMORY 169 

with reference to the characteristics of the 
child 's learning habits that they exhibit. 

The characteristics of the child's ability to 
retain impressions can now be investigated. 
Series of digits may be memorized by the child 
by being repeated until they can be reproduced 
without error. Later in the day or on the fol- 
lowing day, the children are to write the series. 
The number that are retained, and the nature 
of the errors are to be recorded. The reten- 
tiveness can also be measured by the number 
of repetitions that are required to relearn ma- 
terial after it has been partially or entirely 
forgotten. Other kinds of material can be 
used, such as paragraphs of reading matter, 
single words, sentences. Different qualities of 
retentiveness can be tested by varying the ma- 
terial thus: matter can be used that demands 
memorizing of separate words, or again, ma- 
terial in which interest of one kind or another 
assists in the memorizing. Exact numerical es- 
timates of memory for connected matter are 
somewhat difficult to make, but usually the ma- 
terial can be divided into units in which each 
unit contains a separate idea or phrase, and 
the number of these units that are correctly 
reproduced counted. 

A study of the relation between immediate 
memory and power of retentiveness can be 
made by the method used by Sharp, which is as 
follows : Seven disconnected words are read to 



170 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

the subjects at the rate of two each second. 
Immediately after the reading the subjects are 
to write the words. Seven series of seven 
words each are given in this way. After the 
last series is written the papers are removed, 
and the children are then to write from mem- 
ory all the words of the whole series they can 
remember and in the order in which they were 
given. 

For examining retentiveness for still longer 
periods questions can be asked about the school 
work of the preceding year. The number of 
titles from last year's reading books that can 
be recalled will serve as an indication of reten- 
tiveness for long periods. This method can 
be used for determining memory for different 
kinds of material; such as memory for dates, 
for verse, for description, for scientific expla- 
nation. These methods differ from the ordi- 
nary examination of the school not so much in 
their subject matter as in the point of view 
taken. The school examination tests for the 
memory of particular facts, but in the psycho- 
logical examination the particular material that 
is used for a test stands for a type of subject 
matter, and the purpose is to examine the 
child's general ability with regard to material 
of this, class. Other differences in habit of 
memory will be brought out in the study of 
the mechanism of mind as an associative pro- 
cess. 



ASSOCIATION 171 

REFERENCES 

Bibliography and works on experimental psychology 
mentioned in previous chapters should, be consulted 
for references to present topics. Chapters in some 
textbook on general psychology should be read. Texts 
by James, Royce, Baldwin, Angell, Thorndike, Judd, 
can be recommended. 



XIV 

MECHANISM OF THE MIND: ASSOCIATION 

Association of ideas like memory is a name 
for a complicated process, one therefore which 
is variable in many ways. Just what the fun- 
damental variables of the process are is not 
yet entirely clear. In studying differences in 
association among individuals, we wish to ex- 
amine the manner in which sequences take 
place in the mind, under the simplest condi- 
tions, for differences in the mechanical func- 
tions of the mind must be supposed to underlie 
types of intellectual ability. 

For an introductory experiment upon associ- 
ation a test can be made upon a class of chil- 
dren. Lists of common words can be prepared, 
25 in each list. The first should contain names 
of objects frequently used or observed ; the sec- 
ond may contain action words, and the third 
adjectives in common use. The words are to 



172 INDIVIDUAL STUDY ' 

be pronounced one at a time, and the children 
are to write after each word is pronounced the 
first word that comes to the mind. The reac- 
tions are then to be studied comparatively. 
Several types will probably be found, and many 
interesting variations of several qualities of 
the associative process if a sufficiently large 
number of children are tested. The most char- 
acteristic response will be with words that ex- 
press frequent and commonplace experiences. 
There will be pronounced differences in the kind 
of reaction that is most frequent, whether by 
words describing action, qualities, substances, 
relations. In some cases there will be a rela- 
tively large number of words describing recent 
or present experiences, and in others vivid or 
striking experiences or those of a personal or 
emotional nature will be conspicuous. Varia- 
tions in other traits of association will be ex- 
hibited. In some cases there will be relatively 
a greater number of reactions that show that 
the thought first suggested by the word remains 
clearly in the mind ; the reactions will be terms 
describing the object, or parts of it, or its 
qualities or use, or possibly naming some ob- 
ject that belongs to the same class, or some 
larger class to which the object itself belongs. 
In other cases the tendency will be to pass from 
the object given to some other different object 
as a whole. In these cases the connection may 
be obscure, showing looser association, or pos- 



ASSOCIATION 173 

sibly a greater amount of content in the mind. 

In studying the results of the association 
test, although it may be difficult to make nu- 
merical estimates of the characteristics that 
are involved, some estimate should be made of 
the amount of influence of recency, vividness, 
and frequency in determining the association, 
and also the prevailing form of connection: 
whether by similarity, when there is usually a 
passage from one object to another as a whole, 
or by contiguity, in which the response is a 
word that describes or refers to some other 
part of the same scene or object. It is not 
always possible to decide upon the nature of 
the association from the word that is given, 
but if a sufficiently large number of reactions 
are taken one cannot fail to discover something 
about the prevailing reaction habits of the 
mind. 

Other differences in associative habits can be 
discovered by repeating the association tests 
several times at intervals of several days, using 
the same list of words each time. Care should 
be taken not to suggest an effort to recall the 
previous reactions. Children of the same age 
will be found to differ greatly with regard to 
the amount of repetition that will be found on 
examining their successive reactions. Some 
will respond with a majority of the old words ; 
in other cases an almost entirely new list is 
likely to be written. For a quantitative meas- 



174 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

ure of the variability the number of words that 
are different from the words of the first list can 
be counted. 

Another method of testing association that 
will be found helpful in studying small children 
is as follows : — About fifty small objects are 
placed together on a table in a definite order. 
Among them are round, spherical, cylindrical, 
conical, circular, and irregularly round objects ; 
there are several of the same general color but 
of different shades or tones, and some of other 
colors. Besides these, other groupings should 
be provided for such as objects serving some 
use : for example, toilet articles, articles belong- 
ing to the table, or objects connected with a 
Christmas scene. The following objects were 
used in a series of experiments made by the 
method : — Apple, red rose, peach, marble, card 
with Christmas scene drawn on it, a small piece 
of wood, plain white card, knife, blue paper, 
red sealing wax, seal to stamp letters, ball, card 
containing circle, picture of tea-kettle, round 
piece of wood, spool of cotton, tinsel, piece of 
pith, sandpaper, spool of red thread, red cloth, 
red paper, some pieces of variously colored cloth 
pinned together, a stone, small bottle contain- 
ing vinegar, pencil, piece of candy, string of 
popcorn, cubical block of wood, small doll 
dressed in red, orange, picture card, button, 
sachet powder, nut, skein of red silk, glass, 
piece of lead, bottle of cologne, and the fol- 



ASSOCIATION 175 

lowing words printed upon cards — cider, ice, 
violet, earth, teaset, pansy, Santa Claus. 

In testing, the children are brought one at a 
time. The experimenter selects a round object, 
for example an apple, from the table, and gives 
it to the child with the direction to place it 
aside on the table and then to put with the 
apple all the objects that he sees on the table 
which he thinks ought to go with it. He is al- 
lowed to take all the time he needs to satisfy 
himself that he has selected all that properly 
go with the apple. 

Several varieties of reaction will be found. 
Some children will select only spherical objects ; 
others will select round objects but according 
to a broader concept, including objects that are 
irregularly round. Others still will select ac- 
cording to two or more concepts. Another 
type of reaction is that in which the child tries 
to construct a story or scene. Some will asso- 
ciate by individual resemblances and find a 
likeness in some particular between the test 
object and all the other objects on the table. 
The younger children tend to select according 
to a single resemblance such as roundness, or 
redness; those a little older more frequently 
use two or more concepts, and the oldest chil- 
dren in a group will be likely to react by in- 
dividual comparison or several distinct resem- 
blances will be kept in mind at once. Eeactions 
appear to belong to two types, irrespective of 



176 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

age. The bright, nervous child of any age is 
more likely to use the mixed reaction; another 
mental type is more prone to the single con- 
cept reaction. 

Variations of the association experiment can 
be made by having children write lists of words 
as rapidly as possible. They can be asked to 
write twenty-five nouns, or twenty-five adjec- 
tives, putting down the first that come to the 
mind. Or they may be asked to write senten- 
ces, or to finish sentences half of which are read 
to them. Another experiment is writing of re- 
cent memories. The children can be asked to 
write about ten events that have transpired 
during the day. In all such products of the 
child 's mind the same fundamental differences 
that were observed in other association tests 
are likely to be seen. 

Association time, or the rapidity of the pass- 
ing of the mind from one state to another, has 
been studied minutely, especially in the early 
period of experimental psychology. The usual 
method of testing is to measure the time that 
elapses between the pronouncing of a stimulus 
word, and the reaction word that is given by 
the subject. In testing children a word can 
be given and the children allowed a minute in 
which to write as rapidly as possible all the 
words that the given word makes them think 
of. Another method is to take the whole time 



ASSOCIATION 177 

of association, using twenty words. The ex- 
perimenter pronounces the words one at a time, 
giving the new word immediately after the child 
delivers his reaction. The time of the whole 
series can be taken accurately enough with an 
ordinary watch. Methods of measuring single 
reactions require apparatus, and for experi- 
ments upon differences will not be likely to 
yield better results than the more simple meth- 
ods that have been described. 

Eapidity of other mental processes that are 
largely mechanical in nature can be tested also. 
Such a process as adding, after it has been well 
practiced, is largely automatic in character, and 
the rapidity with which it can be performed is 
a good measure of the rapidity of mental pro- 
cesses. Sheets of paper containing sixteen 
columns of digits, twenty-five in each column, 
can be prepared. Have the child add for three 
minutes putting down the result at the foot of 
each column. The method can be used also in 
testing mental fatigue, and also for experiments 
upon mental tempo, and the relation of maximal 
to preferred rate of action. In testing for men- 
tal tempo a series of preliminary experiments 
should be made without suggesting speed, but 
simply asking the children to add the columns 
of digits. Later, experiments can be made for 
comparison in which the greatest possible speed 
is demanded. In all the tests quality as well 



178 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

as quantity must be observed. Types such as 
rapid-accurate, rapid-inaccurate, slow-accurate, 
and slow-inaccurate will be found. 

In testing for fatigue by this method work at 
greatest speed should be done for five minutes, 
and the point that is reached at the end of each 
minute indicated. The quantity and quality 
for each period should then be estimated. Fa- 
tigue as it is measured by such a method is the 
result of several factors : warming up, effect of 
practice, will attitudes, affect the result as well 
as actual fatigue of the neural processes that 
are engaged in the work. 

REFERENCES 

Works on Experimental Psychology previously men- 
tioned. 



XV 

FREE ACTIVITY OF THE MIND 

In the preceding chapters some of the differ- 
ences in the mechanism of the mind were studied. 
The product of the functions of impression- 
receiving, retention, combination, and repro- 
duction, is a mental content that gradually 
from infancy on becomes more complex, and 
more and more an organized stream of con- 
sciousness. Not only in actual experience do 
individuals differ in their streams of conscious- 



FREE MENTAL ACTIVITY • 179 

ness, but in many other characteristics, such 
as volume, rapidity of movement, richness of 
connection, clearness of imagery, predominance 
of one or another form of imagery; and in many 
other ways differentiation into types and va- 
rieties appears. Some of the underlying fac- 
tors of these differences have already been con- 
sidered; now the results as they appear in the 
actual content of mind are to be noticed. Mind 
as we know it and use it in the practical business 
of life is a result of disciplining the free activity 
of consciousness, and choosing from an excess 
of partially coordinated elements those combi- 
nations that apply best to practical situations. 
Children can be studied with special refer- 
ence to the free activity of mind. In general 
do the activities of the child under observation 
indicate richness and variety of mental con- 
tent, rapidity of mental action, flexibility of 
connections, or the opposite characteristics ? A 
simple test of mental content can be made by 
asking children to think for two or three minutes 
about some familiar interesting object or scenes 
in which free play of the mind will be stimu- 
lated; such as a walk home from school, or a 
holiday. They are then asked to write all they 
can remember of what has been in the mind. 
More can be learned by questioning the child 
but the written report will show something 
about the individual differences in quantity and 
flexibility of mental content. By questioning 



180 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

the child some information about the vividness 
of his mental imagery can be obtained, the ex- 
tent to which details enter into imagery, the 
predominance of one or another of the sensory 
forms, as visual, auditory, or motor images, 
and emotional content. 

Another experiment which will give similar 
results can be tried. A story or bit of descrip- 
tion can be read to the children, and imme- 
diately afterward they are requested to describe 
what was in the mind. If characters appear in 
the story whose appearance is but suggested 
or left to the imagination, the children may be 
requested to describe in detail the appearance 
of the persons as they saw them in mind. 

Other information can be gained from re- 
ports about the child's dreams. Description of 
a few vivid dreams can be called for, and chil- 
dren can be asked to tell the subjects of all 
the dreams they can recall. Questions can be 
included about what is seen just before going 
to sleep. These experiences differ with age, 
but differences among individuals will be found 
that are due to differences in mental constitu- 
tion. Differences in the emotional background 
of imaginative activity should be noticed es- 
pecially; sometimes in such tests the influence 
of morbid emotion or shock can be detected, 
and steps taken to remove it. 

Experiments upon the traits under observa- 
tion can be continued in several ways. Chil- 



FREE MENTAL ACTIVITY 181 

dren can be asked to describe in writing an 
imaginary animal, one they have never seen, 
nor read about, nor heard of. The quantity of 
the mental activity that results can be estimated 
by counting the number of descriptive units 
the child has used in his account. Many dif- 
ferences will be found. Some children will be 
unable to detach the mind from common experi- 
ences. They may describe some common ani- 
mal, or, if they are original at all, the originality 
consists in duplication of parts, or enlargement 
of the animal as a whole, or in selecting parts 
from several animals. Some will show that the 
creature has not been visualized as a whole by 
making parts mutually contradictory, by de- 
scribing in a haphazard order, or by mention- 
ing but a few detached parts. Others will show 
powers of imaginative construction, for they 
will depart widely from common experience, 
carrying out their descriptions consistently. 
(See appendix to article on Reverie, Pedagog- 
ical Seminary, Vol. 5.) 

An experiment that has frequently been used 
in testing imagination can be made to yield 
interesting results in this connection, showing 
differences among individuals in the use of sim- 
ilarity association. A drop of ink is put onto 
the center of a sheet of paper, and another 
sheet is pressed down upon it, until the ink is 
spread out irregularly. The child is then asked 
to write the names of all the objects the ink- 



182 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

spot resembles, in the order in which they oc- 
cur to him. A class experiment can be con- 
ducted by making the test material on a larger 
scale. 

Other tests of the traits of mind that are 
being observed can be made as follows : — Copy 
upon the blackboard a page of a story that is 
unknown to the children, omitting letters and 
syllables, making what is called a mutilated 
text. The children are then told to copy the 
story and to fill in the missing parts. The copy- 
ing is to be done as rapidly as possible. Both 
the time required and the accuracy or sense 
with which the work is done are to be noticed. 
The mental activity required in this test can 
vary from ability to notice the omissions to 
constructive intelligence, according to the char- 
acter of the materials used, and the amount 
that is omitted. Some think that the ability 
tested in filling in a passage in which there is 
considerable mutilation is closely connected 
with general intelligence for school work, and 
that the differences displayed in such work are 
central to differences in types of intelligence. 

The same ability can be tested in another 
way by announcing a series of substantives, and 
having the children fill in connecting words to 
make sense. Or words can be given and the 
children required to make as many sentences 
as possible in a given time using the words. 
Three nouns or three verbs can be given, and 



FREE MENTAL ACTIVITY 183 

the difficulty of the test depends upon the 
breadth or abstractness of the thought that 
must be constructed in order to contain the 
ideas that are presented. 

Other aspects of the free activity of the mind 
can be tested in various ways. An interesting 
experiment can be made upon the child's power 
and habits of description. A picture is placed 
before the children and they are asked to write 
all they can think of to say about it. A picture 
that is complex in detail and contains sugges- 
tions for a story is best for the purpose. Sev- 
eral types of reaction are likely to be obtained ; 
such as the imaginative, in which there will 
be a story; the observing, containing descrip- 
tion of details ; the emotional, commenting upon 
the artistic aspects of the picture or the emo- 
tions aroused by it; the informational, which 
gives information about the picture, or the 
scenes that it represents. 

Writing of an original story about some sug- 
gested theme can be tried. A subject somewhat 
unusual in character should be chosen : a story 
about some object can be called for, as a book, 
pocketbook, chair, coat. Eeactions can be made 
more uniform and somewhat better adapted 
to the purposes of comparative study if a part 
of the story is told or read to the children, and 
they are made to complete it in a way that 
seems best to them. 

Characteristics of the child 's use of language 



184 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

should be observed in investigating the quali- 
ties of his stream of consciousness. Expres- 
sions of the face in speaking, and gesticulation 
should be observed as indications of the charac- 
ter of the mental imagery, and other qualities 
of consciousness. The word language can be 
studied with regard to its fluency, the relative 
proportion of words expressing action, quality, 
substance, the presence of vivid and emotional 
expression, rapidity of speech, richness of vo- 
cabulary. For further study of the child's 
language, typical specimens of his written word 
can be studied in detail. Topics can be as- 
signed, such as description of a well-known 
object, or narration of some recent experience. 
To test the use of adjectives, such topics as 
1 ' The best time you ever had, ' ' or " The worst 
time you ever had," can be used. Ability to 
explain can be tested by written compositions 
on " How to play baseball " — or some other 
game. Many differences in characteristics will 
be found; use of grammatical form, ability to 
make distinctions in meaning, rhythmical quali- 
ties of language all vary, and all in part indicate 
differences in the mental characteristics that 
are under observation. 

For making a numerical study of the child's 
vocabulary, Kirkpatrick's test can be used. It 
is made as follows : — The first or last word of 
each sixth page of a dictionary is selected (use 
Webster's Academic Dictionary, 645 pages, 



FREE MENTAL ACTIVITY 185 

containing about 28,000 words). Ask the child 
to mark + each word of which he knows the 
meaning, and to mark — each word of which he 
does not know the meaning, and to mark I each 
word about which he has doubt. By " under- 
standing the meaning," it can be explained to 
the child, is meant, ' ' If you should see the word 
in a sentence would you be obliged to look in 
the dictionary? " If, in addition, the child is 
asked to make sentences containing the words, 
the clearness of his concepts can be tested. 
From tests made by the method, Kirkpatrick 
estimated the size of vocabulary of children 
to be as follows: — Grade II, 4480; Grade III, 
6620; Grade IV, 7020; Grade V, 7860; Grade 
VI, 8700; Grade VII, 10,660; Grade VIII, 12,- 
000 ; Grade IX, 13,400. High School, first year, 
15,640; second year, 16,020; third year, 17,600; 
fourth year, 18,720. The average for Normal 
School students was 19,000, and for college 
students 20,120. There was no constant differ- 
ence due to sex. (See E. A. Kirkpatrick, " A 
Vocabulary Test," Popular Science Monthly, 
Vol. 70.) 

REFERENCES 

Wilson 's Bibliography : topics Imagination, Reverie, 
Dreams, Imagery. 



186 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

XVI 

PUEPOSIVE THINKING 

Although no fixed line can be drawn between 
free activity and purposive thinking, for the 
purposes of observation and experiment, the dis- 
tinction can be made. In general, intelligence 
can be defined as the power of the mind to adapt 
itself to new conditions. Whether there is such 
a function as general intelligence which can be 
put to exact test is doubtful; rather it seems 
that intelligence is the result of several com- 
plex activities, and that different degrees of 
intelligence may exist side by side in the same 
individual. 

For present purposes it is not necessary to 
attempt a close analysis of the processes that 
constitute intelligence, but rather to observe 
the various kinds of action to which the terms 
" intelligent " and " unintelligent " are ap- 
plied, and to study differences among indi- 
viduals with respect to these actions. The 
ordinary exercises of the school do not test in- 
telligence in a way to be satisfactory from the 
psychological point of view, for erudition is, by 
the nature of the case, a predominant result of 
the school training, and memory is brought to 
the front rather than original adaptation. 
Methods of testing intelligence, therefore, are 
best chosen that do not make use of the ordinary 



PURPOSIVE THINKING 187 

school content. Several kinds of situation could 
be singled out for- study. Intelligence of one 
kind, somewhat different from other forms of 
intelligence displayed in the school, seems to be 
required for parts of the mathematical work. 
Practical tasks that require modification of 
previous conduct to meet a somewhat new situ- 
ation appear to be different in character from 
mathematical ability. When one makes rea- 
sonable inferences from observations, or applies 
analogy in drawing conclusions, still other fac- 
tors of intelligence appear. Logical thinking 
is still another form of intelligent mental ac- 
tion, and the very opposite of another that is 
usually described as intuition. 

In ordinary practical life, and, indeed, in 
most acts of thought, thinking is not of a pre- 
cise or logical nature, but every individual has 
certain type-experiences or conclusions that ap- 
ply more or less satisfactorily to the situations 
in which he finds himself usually placed. The 
intelligent person, other things being equal, is 
one who has a varied assortment of these type- 
experiences from which to choose. Ability to 
modify these reactions to fit particular condi- 
tions is a second factor of intelligence. If acts 
of intelligence are examined more closely, many 
variable traits upon which the larger aspects 
of the mental functions that have been described 
are based, will be discovered. In some cases, 
the power of holding steadily a complex mental 



188 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

image seems to be the basis of intelligent ac- 
tion, and this is an ability that varies much 
among individuals; in such work as the arith- 
metical problems of the school, this ability 
counts for much. Other variables are: com- 
plexity of association, especially associations of 
similarity, the rapidity with which associations 
are aroused in the mind, the quantity of mental 
content that is aroused when a new situation 
appears. 

To test the intelligence of an individual, then, 
is no simple matter, for there are not only 
several variables, but the intelligence is con- 
nected with all other mental functions in an 
intricate way. Before beginning experiment or 
observation, all the descriptive terms that are 
commonly applied to mental ability or intelli- 
gence should be brought together and carefully 
studied, to see what meanings are embedded 
in them. Individuals can then be observed and 
marked with reference to these terms. The 
ability in each school subject, as shown by the 
marks in examination and class work, should 
be ascertained. The opinion of several ob- 
servers will be valuable, and if each will arrange 
a group of children in a series, with regard 
to what seems to be their intelligence, the uni- 
formity of the ordinary methods of judging 
individuals can be determined. One may then 
proceed to examine intelligence more closely in 
some of its typical expressions. 



PURPOSIVE THINKING 189 

Some of the characteristics of intelligence 
can be observed in the child 's actions in the 
presence of a practical problem. An experi- 
ment adapted especially to young children will 
test the child's method of search. Thirty-six 
square blank cards are prepared and placed in a 
solid square. A piece of colored paper is then 
shown to the child, with the remark that it is to 
be put under one of the squares, and that he is 
to find it by taking up the squares one at a time, 
putting them back exactly as they were. The 
child's method of search is then observed, and 
if a numbered arrangement of the cards is fixed 
upon, the procedure can be precisely recorded. 
Many individual differences will be found. In 
some cases the search will be entirely a matter 
of trial and error, the child apparently not 
profiting at all by what he has done, but de- 
pending entirely upon chance. Others will pro- 
ceed with some reference to avoiding working 
over the same ground twice, and some will adopt 
a perfectly ordered search. A variation is 
made by failing to put the paper under the card 
(changing the form of statement to the child), 
and then observing the process by which the 
child arrives at the conclusion (if he does) that 
the paper is not under any of the cards. 

The same problem can be put in the form of 
a question, to which all the children in a class 
can write answers at once. A question like the 
following can be used ; — 



190 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

" There is a large square field, covered with 
tall grass, and your ball is lost in it. You did 
not see it thrown, and you have no knowledge 
as to what part of the field it is in. How would 
you go about finding the ball? " 

Some of the practical problems that pre- 
sented themselves to primitive man can be 
reproduced, with such modifications as are 
necessary to bring them under experimental 
conditions: for example, the problem of con- 
structing a hammer from stone, thong, and 
stick can be used. A smooth piece of green 
wood, a long twine, and a thin stone of suitable 
shape are provided, and a knife. Several de- 
grees of skill will probably be observed. 

For studying phases of the intelligence that 
are brought to light in some kinds of mathemat- 
ical work, such problems as the following can 
be used. They can be presented as written 
exercises, or can be arranged as experiments. 

Two men come to a deep river, which they 
wish to cross. They find two boys in a boat 
that is just large enough to hold one man or 
two boys. Neither men nor boys can swim. 
How can the men get across in the boat? — If 
the problem is to be used as an experiment, 
river, boat, men, and boys can be represented 
by objects, and the child is requested to show 
how the men can be taken across. The ex- 
perimenter should record exactly what the child 
does. Children as young as nine will be found, 



PURPOSIVE THINKING 191 

who will give clear written answers to this 
problem. Although intelligent children will be 
found who will be confused in attempting to 
solve such a problem mentally, it is probable 
that a child who can give a perfectly clear 
answer has excellent intelligence of a kind that 
is used in some phases of practical thinking. 
Its essential factor seems to be the ability to 
hold a situation in mind steadily while its de- 
tails are changed. 

Similar abilities are required in solving prob- 
lems of a type represented by the following : — 

A boy goes to the pump with two pails, one 
holding three quarts and the other five quarts. 
How can he measure exactly four quarts I — If 
it is given in the form of an experiment, the 
whole procedure of the child should be recorded. 
Some will proceed by trial and error, not seem- 
ing to profit in the least by what they have 
already done, at last, perhaps, happening to 
hit jipon the right method. At the other ex- 
treme are those who think the whole process 
through before they begin to act. 

For further study of these traits of intelli- 
gence many forms of puzzle are adapted. The 
puzzle test made by Lindley (American Journal 
of Psychology, 1897J can be used, or other puz- 
zles of this type. Usually the number of trials, 
or the time taken in the solution, is but a par- 
tial indication of the intelligence displayed. 
Everything the child does should be recorded, 



192 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

and his own description of the process that took 
place in his mind should be taken. In cases 
in which exact quantitative estimates cannot be 
made, children can be grouped into three or 
more classes, according to the degree of intel- 
ligence displayed. If two or three observers 
grade the children independently, the accuracy 
of the method will be increased, or tested. 

Some characteristics of the child's drawing 
from objects indicate degree of mental develop- 
ment or intelligence. An experiment per- 
formed by Clark can be used as a class 
experiment. An apple with a hat pin running 
through it is placed in such a position that the 
pin appears to enter the apple at a distance 
from the edge. The children are directed to 
draw the apple and pin just as they look. 
Three types of reaction will be found, repre- 
senting three stages of mental development. 
The lowest form of reaction, usually predom- 
inating among young children, is a circle with a 
line passing entirely through it. The second 
stage is that in which the line is shown inter- 
rupted at each edge of the circle. The third 
represents the figure as it actually appears, the 
line entering the circle at one side, and meeting 
it at the other. 

The child's conception of cause and effect, 
of proof, his use of inference and analogy can 
be brought to test in many ways. Problems 
like the following can be given as written exer- 



PURPOSIVE THINKING 193 

cises: — Are you sure that the sun will rise 
to-morrow? Why, or why not? Was there 
ever a man named George Washington? How 
do you know? What makes the wind blow? 
How does powder make a shot go? What 
makes the sky blue? How does your mind 
make your legs go? What makes a top stop 
when you spin it? Why do dogs dislike cats? 
Of course, correct answers are not to be ex- 
pected to such questions, but the manner in 
which the child's mind attacks the problem 
will reveal characteristics of his intelligence. 

Passing now to processes that are commonly 
regarded as essentially rational processes, some 
simple tests can be made that will bring out 
the traits of the child's reasoning. Close rea- 
soning involves one or both of two processes : 
(1) The discovery of similarity of behavior or 
characteristic among a number of objects or 
qualities; (2) application of a general prin- 
ciple or statement to particular instances. 
Most of the reasoning, both of child and adult, 
is but incompletely logical, but these two proc- 
esses will be found in the most rudimentary 
form of reasoning. Test questions like the fol- 
lowing can be used : — 

In what way or ways are the following ob- 
jects alike? Ball, apple, orange, marble, the 
earth, a circle? A spoon, a cent, a piece of 
glass, a wire, a watch? A pansy, rose, bluebird, 
robin, sunflower, tree? A spool of cotton 



194 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

thread, needle, cloth, scissors, pins, thimble? 
A pocketbook, bag of popcorn, apple, doll, 
candy, orange? 

Other similar lists can be prepared contain- 
ing some common property or properties, vary- 
ing in difficulty of detection. Both the quick- 
ness with which children can discover the 
common quality, and the correctness of the an- 
swers are to be taken into account in estimating 
the intelligence. If the questions are given as 
a written test, marks can be assigned as in an 
ordinary examination paper. 

For testing ability to think deductively in 
logical form, test questions such as the follow- 
ing can be used. The child is to tell whether 
the statements are correct or incorrect and why : 

All minerals come from mines; coal comes 
from a mine, so coal is a mineral. 

A good teacher knows all about the subject 
he teaches ; my teacher knows all about the sub- 
ject he teaches, so he is a good teacher. 

Almost all the organs of the body have some 
known use; the spleen is one of the organs of 
the body, so the spleen has some use. 

Every city contains a cathedral; Liverpool 
contains no cathedral, so Liverpool is not a 
city. 

All American silver coins are made by the 
government ; a dollar is a silver coin, therefore 
all silver dollars are made by the government. 

All people that pay taxes can vote; Indians 



PURPOSIVE THINKING 195 

do not pay taxes, therefore Indians cannot vote. 

Ability to distinguish clearly between correct- 
ness of statement and correctness of deduction 
will be found lacking in young children, but the 
manner in which the child approaches the logi- 
cal problem will indicate something about the 
stage of his mental development. Other ques- 
tions similar in nature, more simple or more 
difficult, as the case may demand, can readily 
be devised by the experimenter. Intelligence, 
it must be remembered, is shown quite as much 
by the nature of the process that is used to 
arrive at truth, as by the correctness of an 
answer. At times a wrong answer may indicate 
more intelligence than a correct one. 

Although these tests do not afford means of 
exact quantitative estimate of intelligence, they 
will show several of the most fundamental 
characteristics of it. Study of a large group of 
children in such ways will show types of intelli- 
gence. A variety of tests applied to cases of 
eccentricity or deficiency of mind in school chil- 
dren will often detect the particular function or 
functions in which the deficiency lies. Children 
may be poor in arithmetic, for example, from 
one of several causes. If the exact nature of 
the defect can be found, special training can be 
applied at that point, or the work can be modi- 
fied in such a way as to allow the child to use 
other factors of intelligence which he may pos- 
sess in greater degree. If, for example, there 



196 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

is mental confusion, as often occurs, on account 
of inability to maintain images steadily in mind, 
the use of objective aids in thinking may rem- 
edy the difficulty. 

Systematic study of the language of the child 
should be made in studying the intelligence. 
Usually, subjects for composition not calling 
into play information gained in the school will 
be found best. Themes for argumentative 
writing will bring out some characteristics of 
the child's intelligence. Such themes as these 
can be assigned: Why is the United States 
a better country in which to live than Spain? 
Why is the United States the best country in 
which to live? Or why is it not? What is the 
most useful study in school? Should women 
be allowed to vote? The manner in which the 
child constructs arguments should be observed, 
and also his method of forming sentences, use of 
words and grammatical form. 

REFERENCES 

Experimental methods of studying intelligence will 
be found in some of the treatises on Experimental 
Psychology that have been mentioned. Under head- 
ings, reasoning, intelligence, thought, language, men- 
tal development, many titles will be found in Wilson 's 
Bibliography. 

Binet's Psychology of Reasoning can be read. 

C. Spearman: General Intelligence. American 
Journal of Psychology, April, 1904. 



PURPOSIVE THINKING 197 

H. P. MacMillan : The Diagnosis of Capabilities of 
School Children. Proceedings of the N. E. A., 1904, 
pp. 738-744. 

H. W. Brown : Some Records of the Thoughts and 
Reasonings of Children. Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 
II, 358-396. 

J. A. Hancock: Children's Ability to Reason. Ed- 
ucational Review, Vol. XII, 261-268. 



APPLICATION AND RESULTS OF INDI- 
VIDUAL STUDY 



A STUDY OF TWO CHILDREN 

This chapter contains the results of a study 
of two children, twins, by methods similar to 
those described in the previous outline. Some- 
thing about the nature of the questions that 
arise and the solutions that are suggested in 
the actual study of individuals can thus be 
shown. Even when the factors that are in- 
volved are as few and as simple as can be found, 
the study of individuals, with regard to their dif- 
ferences and likenesses, is full of difficulty, and 
problems arise to which only tentative answers 
can be given. As to the application of such im- 
perfect knowledge to the education of the child, 
it can be said that, in any case, children must 
be educated, and in the way of understanding 
them some knowledge is better than none at all. 

The study was made during the summer of 
1903. The subjects are two boys, Harold and 
Earl, nine years old. Their home is in a little 
fishing village on the coast of the Bay of 
Fundy. Conditions were unusually favorable, 
in some respects, for analyzing and describing 
the traits of these children, and for obtaining 

201 



202 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

an insight into the causes that produced the 
traits. Environment was not only as simple as 
could well be found, but it was identical for the 
two children. They had never been separated 
for a whole day at a time, and they had never 
been further than a few miles from the village. 
The settlement contained the simplest elements 
of social life. The school was primitive, its 
culture material consisting of a prescribed 
course of texts. The children had read but lit- 
tle, and the books to which they had access were 
few. Heredity and environment, in a word, 
were identical for the two children, at least in 
all their gross aspects. Yet it is easy to see 
how differentiation can creep in, even in these 
simple surroundings. The factors that shape 
the lives of children are subtle. Small events 
sometimes seem to lead to large consequences. 
Slight differences in interest or ability may 
lead to selective action upon the environment 
on the part of the organism, and the environ- 
ment so differentiated reacts to multiply and 
increase the original differences. 

Though the lives of these two children had 
run so nearly an identical course, there was 
one divergence that may have had an important 
influence upon their differences. Two years 
previous to the time when the study was made, 
Earl had an illness that was diagnosed by the 
local physician as brain fever. He was ill four 



A STUDY OF TWINS 203 

weeks, made a good recovery, but had once 
since had a slight return of the trouble, and 
at times had been subject to headaches. Dur- 
ing the illness he suffered greatly from sensi- 
tiveness to light and sound, and it was neces- 
sary to keep the house quiet and dark. The 
cause of the illness, the mother thinks, was sun- 
stroke or over-heating. Following this illness, 
there was a loss of school for nearly a year, 
largely on account of headache when reading or 
studying, a difficulty that was still present at 
the age of nine. But the loss of the time at 
school, occurring, as it did, at the age of seven, 
was probably of less significance than might at 
first be thought, for the school house was next 
door to the children's home, and the boys were 
always together when out of school. The pau- 
city of the school content must also be taken 
into consideration. The fact, however, that 
some of the differences of the children, plain 
enough at the age of nine, were first noticed by 
the mother after the illness of Earl must also 
be recorded. 

The children are so-called identical twins. 
Their resemblance was so close that neighbors 
who had known them all their lives could not 
distinguish them. A teacher was troubled 
after a year's acquaintance. Even the mother 
could with difficulty identify them at a distance, 
unless they were directly facing her. But there 



204 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

were minor marks, as, for example, in the distri- 
bution of freckles, that made identification en- 
tirely certain when it was necessary. 

More careful and detailed observation showed 
likenesses and differences that were striking. 
The color of the hair, its degree of waviness, 
the configuration of the forehead line were 
alike in the two cases. Both children had the 
same irregularly shaped pigmented spots about 
the pupil of the eye, a characteristic believed 
to be so variable that it is often recorded for 
purposes of identification in police examina- 
tions. The ears, of which the lobes were of 
uncommon contour, were alike, so far as could 
be detected by inspection. Similarly in other 
marks there was great likeness. 

When the children were observed directly in 
full face there was close similarity and yet 
plain difference. Earl's complexion appeared 
a little more delicate. The cheeks seemed less 
full, giving the appearance of greater length of 
the face, and also of greater width, especially 
between the eyes. The features seemed a little 
more clear-cut, the eyes larger, and wider open. 
Small as these differences were, they were dis- 
tinct. 

Seen in profile, there was the same general 
similarity. Earl's features appeared a little 
more sharply outlined, or better developed, 
especially the nose. The head appeared longer, 
and less. rectilinear in outline. 



A STUDY OF TWINS 205 

Earl was taller and seemed more slender, 
especially in the arms and chest. The shoul- 
ders were more sloping, and apparently nar- 
rower. EarFs hand was thinner, narrower, 
and less firm in texture. The lines of the palm 
seemed identical in the two cases, so far as 
could be determined by inspection. Measure- 
ments confirmed these observations. Earl's 
height was greater by three-eights of an inch. 
The circumference of the upper arm, forearm, 
and wrist were all less by about the same 
amount. Head measurements showed the 
greater length and less width of Earl's head, 
the greater length of the face, and greater 
width at the level of the eyes. Width between 
the pupils of the eyes was also greater in Earl. 
Differences in weight were insignificant. Earl 
lost a little during the summer and Harold 
gained. Under similar circumstances, Earl's 
pulse was always slower than Harold's, and the 
heart sounds were less distinct. Earl's pulse 
was slow as compared with the usual rate for 
his age; Harold's appeared more typical. 
Earl's temperature was always lower than Har- 
old's; all of these facts seeming to indicate the 
greater vitality of Harold. But the mother's 
opinion that Earl was the stronger child must 
be taken into consideration. Earl appeared 
older and better developed, but thus far less 
hardy and less vigorous. 

Both children belonged plainly to the type 



206 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

called the motor child. On casual observation, 
they appeared alike in their activities, but closer 
study began to disclose differences, some of 
them striking. 

An experiment was made to test motor ability. 
It consisted of a series of trials, on alternate 
days, of tossing a ball at a target. In this test 
Earl was both inferior and also more variable 
in his records. In rapidity of making a move- 
ment Earl proved also to be inferior. A long 
series of trials at making short marks at great- 
est speed showed this, and the result was con- 
firmed by other experiments, such as dealing 
a pack of cards. The conclusion that was 
drawn from the results of all the experiments 
of this character that were made was that Earl 
was inferior, both in speed and in control of 
voluntary movement. Effort was made, by 
giving rewards, to secure the best work of the 
children, but there was no way of entirely elim- 
inating fluctuations of effort. 

So far, voluntary movements made under 
experimental conditions have been observed. 
But when we came to consider movements of 
free activity, other differences were found. In 
general, Earl's activity showed more rapid and 
freer movement. This was well illustrated by 
the handwriting. Earl's was more rapid, 
more irregular, more like an adult's. Earl 
talked more, and more rapidly, and with greater 
flexibility of movement and tone. In many 



A STUDY OF TWINS 207 

other characteristics of movement traits ap- 
peared that seemed to be related to or based 
upon those that have been mentioned. For ex- 
ample, in running, Earl was more likely to start 
before the signal, as though there were greater 
readiness for movement. 

The characteristics that were thought to 
underlie some of the traits that have just been 
described were finally put to test by experiment- 
ing upon the relation of maximal to preferred 
rate of movement. The movement that was 
chosen was flexing and extending the hand. A 
series of trials was first made without suggest- 
ing speed, and later tests were made to test the 
maximal rate. Although no differences in the 
latter were discovered that could not be due 
to errors of observation, Earl's free movement 
was decidedly more rapid. This seems to be 
in correspondence with Earl's greater impul- 
siveness and impatience. In running he was 
more eager to get to the starting point, or at 
least to be on the move in some direction, for 
he was also more likely to take a devious way 
in going, showing, as did other actions, a ten- 
dency to greater amount of movement, less 
definitely directed, less perfectly controlled, and 
so performed with greater waste. 

In school Earl made more unnecessary move- 
ments. He more often changed his position, 
and more often assumed awkward attitudes. 
When talking or paying attention he made more 



208 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

movements of face and body. The expression 
in speaking was more active; there was more 
play of the features. There was a greater num- 
ber of eye movements ; he looked more animated 
and brighter, again showing the greater volume 
of free movement, and the tendency to lack of 
control. 

These facts lead to the conclusion that though 
Earl was more active he was really less a 
motor child; for Harold's actions were more 
definite and under better control. In other 
words, they were more practical, more likely to 
produce results. He was more industrious, and 
when neighbors wished a boy to do errands, 
Harold was almost always selected. He was 
more helpful in the house, more often seen at 
work in his father's shop, less given to idle 
occupations. 

In movements that required strength Earl 
fatigued more rapidly. This was true of ac- 
tivities like running, holding out a weight at 
arm's length, and in smaller movements, as 
making marks for periods of from three to five 
minutes. Earl's fatigue curve in the last men- 
tioned experiment showed greater variability, 
and indicated greater fluctuations of effort 
which, however, it was not possible to distin- 
guish with certainty from other factors. In 
larger movements physiological evidence of fa- 
tigue was greater in Earl. After running the 
heart recovered less quickly its normal rhythm, 



A STUDY OF TWINS 209 

and breathing was more affected. Earl's heart 
was often slowed by running and the pnlse 
slightly diminished in volume. This is not an 
usual effect of such exercise as was experi- 
mented upon, and although there was certainly 
no organic disease, and no pronounced func- 
tional disturbance of any kind, the nervous 
control of the heart was less perfect in Earl. 

There were occasions, however, when Earl 
showed greater control of movement. At work 
that he particularly liked, as work in the hay- 
field, he was decidedly superior. The testi- 
mony of those who had often observed the boys 
together was that under such conditions Earl 
could do twice as much work. He had, too, cor- 
responding to these fits of activity, periods of 
listiessness and apparent fatigue. He was de- 
cidedly less regular in his expenditure of energy 
than Harold. 

Some of these facts may appear to give con- 
flicting results, but when they are considered 
all together these contradictions seem to dis- 
appear. In the case of Earl there is a greater 
quantity of natural movement, accompanied by 
greater profusion of automatic or secondary 
movement; a condition that makes for greater 
fatigue. This movement was carried on habitu- 
ally at greater tension, and at rates more nearly 
the maximal than in the case of Harold. But 
it was likely to be less effective, when judged 
by actual results, because it was less definitely 



210 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

directed and applied, in part because of less 
precise application of effort, and in part, it 
seemed, because of actually less ability to con- 
trol movement under ordinary stimulation. 
But under the influence of unusual stimulus, 
Earl's nervous system appeared to be aroused 
to greater power than Harold's was capable of, 
apparently both as to quantity and quality of 
work. 

Turning now to more purely mental qualities, 
other differences of traits will be found, which 
in part throw light upon the facts that have 
already been discussed, and in part still 
further complicate the problem. As to morals, 
Earl impressed several observers as being not 
so good a boy as Harold. Among these ob- 
servers was a teacher who knew the children 
well. But a difference of opinion on the part 
of the mother must be taken into account. The 
teacher said that Earl was less likable, not so 
good-natured, nor so polite; that he cared less 
about doing his work well. Earl was more 
bold, inclined sometimes to impertinence and 
argument. He was less obedient and less de- 
pendable. The mother could find no differences 
in such qualities as truthfulness and honesty, 
but she declared that Earl was better tempered, 
that he took things less seriously, was more 
sunny and laughing, and was a tease; while 
Harold was likely at times to be sulky, sensi- 
tive, and morose. Some of these differences 



A STUDY OF TWINS 211 

were certainly striking. Especially as regards 
teasing, there was a great difference between 
the two children. 

Earl's greater boldness in social relations was 
expressed in many ways. He was more diffi- 
cult to control in experiments; he more fre- 
quently asked for favors or to be released from 
obligations. He was more daring, and always 
the leader when the children were away from 
home together. Earl always acted as spokes- 
man. He answered questions habitually that 
were addressed to both. He frequently intro- 
duced subjects of conversation. He seemed 
always to be more confident of himself than 
Harold, and Harold readily admitted the su- 
periority of Earl, even in matters in which it 
did not exist. 

Earl appeared less sympathetic, and less af- 
fectionate, less frank, both at home and in 
school. He did generous acts less frequently, 
and more often acted apparently to show off. 
He was less saving of money, especially of any 
considerable amount. Earl was more resource- 
ful in mischief, more often being seen with one 
or two boys apart, with evidence of planning 
mischief. Harold was more likely to be seen in 
a larger group. Earl was subject at times to 
peculiar balky spells, in which he refused to 
obey orders. This was noticed both in school 
and in the experiments. What mental state 
accompanied them was never determined. In 



212 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

general, in all the characteristics that have just 
been mentioned, Earl seemed more mature and 
more independent. 

Harold seemed to be the more emotional 
child. His relatively less activity, his bashful- 
ness, his moodiness at home, his greater sensi- 
tiveness, greater docility, his reactions to praise 
and blame, all indicated this. 

In qualities of interest there were some con- 
spicuous differences in the midst of general 
similarity. Harold was more patient and per- 
sistent in performing tasks. In Earl the 
competitive spirit seemed better developed. 
Harold apparently tried harder to please, and 
was more conscientious in his work. He 
appeared to regard work more seriously, 
and seemed genuinely pleased at praise, which 
seemed to affect Earl less. Harold always 
appeared willing to try, but he seemed never to 
expect to do very well, and he was never very 
persistent. Earl had the greater capacity for 
acting with enthusiasm, and also the enthusi- 
astic person's fault of soon exhausting the 
momentum. The teacher found, in general, the 
same traits in school work that were found in 
other activities. Earl was more impatient, and 
always in haste to get to the next step. Harold 
was more willing to " rub out and try over." 
These differences appeared on examining the 
copy books of the children, made during the 
previous year. Earl's careless, hasty, and ir- 



A STUDY OF TWINS 213 

regular work appeared in strong contrast to 
Harold's neat and careful writing. Earl's 
writing showed the swing and dash of an older 
person's, and the inattention to the formation 
of the single letter. In many ways Earl showed 
his unwillingness or inability to follow the 
letter of instruction. He was impatient of de- 
tail, disliked dull or routine occupations, seemed 
often to be in a hurry. Earl had more special 
interests and enthusiasms, and was more sub- 
ject to spurts in effort. In school he was inter- 
ested in arithmetic and did well in it, much 
better than Harold, but he did but indifferently 
in other subjects. He worked well at anything 
that was easy for him. Harold worked about 
equally well at everything, but he liked best the 
motor occupations, such as drawing and writing. 

Experiments by such methods as reading to 
the children while they tried to add columns of 
figures, showed that Earl was more easily 
distracted. In school he was more often in- 
attentive, responded more readily to slight dis- 
tractions, looked up more frequently from his 
work without apparent cause, was more subject 
to dreamy states. 

Experimental study of the senses and percep- 
tion yielded, for the most part, but doubtful 
results. Earl was apparently superior in 
rapidity of mental processes. He perceived 
more rapidly, and could take in more at a glance. 

Experiments upon literal memory, including 



214 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

repetition of both visual and auditory stimuli, 
showed the unmistakable inferiority of Earl. 
His ability to repeat rules and definitions 
learned in school during the previous year was 
much less; likewise his ability to reproduce a 
paragraph after Hive minutes' study. 

In rapidity of a complex mental process Earl 
was superior. This was shown in work done 
in several experiments made for other purposes, 
and was also separately put to test, by the 
method of adding columns of digits. In this 
Earl was much superior. 

Several methods of testing association were 
tried. The experiment to which most impor- 
tance was attached was one in which the same 
series of twenty words, presented by the single 
reaction method, was used on six occasions, at 
irregular intervals. EarPs reactions were 
much less uniform; that is, they contained fewer 
repetitions, and indicated a more variable men- 
tal process. EarPs associations were, as a 
rule, more difficult to trace, as though more took 
place between the stimulus and the reaction. 
He more frequently passed from one object as a 
whole to another. Harold more frequently re- 
acted with a word describing some quality of the 
object, as though the mental imagery were more 
clear and more stable and perhaps less in quan- 
tity. Attempts to follow up this clue by having 
the children try to describe their mental imag- 
ery confirmed this view; for, although EarPs 



A STUDY OF TWINS 215 

powers of description were decidedly greater 
than Harold's, he could give a less clear account 
of his images. It was concluded from these 
introspections that Earl's mental content 
changed more rapidly than Harold's, and that 
images were more complex, but less clear. In 
other words, the mind was richer in content and 
more active. It was noticed, too, that recent 
experiences and objects in the immediate en- 
vironment were more frequent causes of the 
reactions of Earl than of Harold. The results 
of these experiments were corroborated by 
others, such as writing, description of pictures, 
the ink-spot test, drawing, and description of an 
imaginary animal. The drawings especially 
showed characteristic differences though they 
belonged to the same type. Earl's drawings 
were more complex, had more ornamentation, 
were larger and freer, and less carefully drawn. 
Many aspects of general intelligence were ob- 
served and investigated. Intelligence, if we 
mean by it adaptation to new conditions, was 
greater in Earl — a conclusion that agrees with 
the verdict both of teacher and parents. Ex- 
periments upon practical intelligence gave clear 
results. Primitive man's problem of construct- 
ing a hammer from thong, stick, and stone was 
presented. The result was much in favor of 
Earl. He cut the stick to fit smoothly against 
the side of the stone, made a loop in the twine, 
put the stone and the stick together loosely 



216 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

through it and wound the remainder of the 
twine coarsely about, making a fairly well- 
jointed hammer. Harold cut a groove around 
the stick, and tried to tie the stone to it at right 
angles with it. Failing in this he tied it, letting 
the stick run across the hammer head with the 
result that he made a loose joining. Neither 
of the children thought to split the stick, and 
insert the stone. 

Similar experiments were tried with similar 
results. Earl was unmistakably more resource- 
ful at such tasks. He suggested more, whether 
rightly or wrongly, when neither could dis- 
cover the correct solution. 

In a test consisting of selecting similar ob- 
jects from a collection in which there were sev- 
eral possible classifications, both selected to 
form a single group, round objects, but Earl's 
concept was broader than Harold's. He in- 
cluded objects of doubtful roundness such as a 
match. Harold selected only spherical objects. 
Attempts to carry further the study of the chil- 
dren's use of concepts by experiments in which 
they were asked to find similarity in objects, 
and to name objects similar to those presented, 
failed to bring out differences. The children 
were not sufficiently developed mentally to re- 
act fully in such experiments. Problems to test 
their notion of proof, of cause and effect, ap- 
preciation of logical form all failed, partly for 
the same reason. At least no differences were 



A STUDY OF TWINS 217 

found that had not already been discovered by 
other methods. 

With the experiments upon the intelligence 
the study was brought to a close. It is easy to 
see how under different conditions a much more 
thorough diagnosis of the characteristics of 
these children could be made. Many more ex- 
periments could be performed, made by more 
refined methods, and with the application of 
better psychological analysis than was at- 
tempted. But even so rough a study as was 
made brought to light many differences, and 
seems to lead to several conclusions. The dif- 
ferences that were discovered do not seem to 
be entirely unrelated, but in many cases to be 
dependent upon one another or to be offshoots 
from the same stem. Other differences seem to 
stand apart as independent. It would be very 
interesting to know to what extent the illness of 
Earl had affected his characteristics. It is pos- 
sible that the sensitizing or exhaustion of the 
nervous system incident to his illness has left 
permanent traces that appear not only in physi- 
cal characteristics but in the mental action as 
well. This cannot be proved from the evidence, 
and can merely be suggested as a possible so- 
lution of some of the problems that are raised. 
It is possible on the other hand that the germs 
of all the differences existed from the beginning 
and that they have merely been brought out by 
the effect of environment. 



218 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

The question that must have arisen in the 
mind of the practical reader, as to what peda- 
gogical conclusions can be derived from such a 
study of children, must be considered. Do the 
differences that can plainly be distinguished in 
the temperament and mental habits of these 
children indicate a need of differentiation in the 
manner of educating or controlling them? 
Both these children belong to a normal type; 
physically there are no pronounced defects or 
tendencies to disease ; they are free from mental 
defect; and they are morally good, as children 
go. As to what the special fitness of such chil- 
dren for life work may be the study certainly 
furnishes but little if any evidence; nor would 
a refinement of it do so. Such children are 
probably plastic and under the right conditions 
can be made efficient in any one of several per- 
haps rather widely different occupations. 

The most marked faults of these children ap- 
pear to be quite opposite in the two cases. 
Earl's haste and restlessness under routine 
tasks amounts to a fault that appears deep- 
seated, and to permeate many of his activities. 
Children so constituted are likely to lay too 
slight foundations, later in life, upon which to 
build practical efficiency. They have natural 
versatility, but are likely to be deficient in all 
matters of technique. And they are more de- 
pendent than the stable child upon circum- 
stances placing them where their enthusiasms 



A STUDY OF TWINS 219 

will be stimulated. Probably this fault cannot 
entirely be eradicated from such a child ; it must 
be watched, and controlled by providing oppor- 
tunities for the child to follow out his natural 
interests. 

In the other case the fault lies in the opposite 
direction. There is too little confidence and 
perhaps too great inclination to follow the letter 
of instruction. Such children do well in many 
places but they sometimes lack initiative. 
They need encouragement to depend upon their 
own judgment, and to appreciate their own 
work. That they can be changed into the type 
possessing the characteristics which they lack 
seems hopeless to expect, even if it were desira- 
ble. One of the lessons to be learned from a 
study of temperament is at least to know what 
not to attempt. 

These are the main lines upon which a differ- 
ential pedagogy of such children would work. 
Neither child is an extreme example of the 
faults or virtues which he typifies. They fall 
within the class of the normal safe average; 
healthy, normal, bright children, rather strongly 
motor in type with as yet neither marked abil- 
ities nor great faults. 

Galton 's study of twins made many years ago 
led him to conclusions that are interesting and 
important to quote in this connection. He made 
a study of the likenesses and differences of 
twins, and found that the most conspicuous dif- 



220 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

ferences are in such traits as sociability, desire 
to attract attention, truthfulness, thoroughness, 
and refinement. Most of the differences in 
identical twins he thinks can be traced to dif- 
ferences in energy in one or another of its 
protean forms. One will be more energetic, 
fearless, vigorous; the other gentle, clinging, 
timid. One will be more ardent, the other calm 
and placid ; one more independent, original, and 
self-contained ; the other hasty, generous, viva- 
cious. The native factors he thinks are the real 
causes of the differences, not the intercurrent 
causes, to which the differences are often as- 
cribed by parents. 

Binet's suggestion of possible correlation 
among traits, resulting from a study of two 
children, is also in point here. He finds that 
the most conspicuous difference between the 
children he studied can be expressed by saying 
that one is variable and the other stable. With 
the variable type go idealistic tendencies, a ten- 
dency to be unpractical, mobile, original, inven- 
tive, capricious. With the stable temperament 
goes a tendency to be practical, reflective, well- 
ordered, conservative, well-balanced, uniform, 
regular, exact. He does not conclude however 
that these traits are necessarily correlates. 



TYPES OF INDIVIDUALS 221 

n 

TYPES OF INDIVIDUALS 

It must soon be apparent to an observer of 
individuals that, though the factors that make 
up individuality are so complex and so varia- 
ble that no two individuals can be alike, yet 
there are certain types and classes. Such stud- 
ies of children as have been suggested in this 
outline should have brought to light several 
pronounced types, and several points of view 
from which individuals can be classified. These 
can now be discussed a little further. 

For a certain practical purpose school chil- 
dren can be separated into two groups ; normal 
and abnormal. Some children, the great ma- 
jority perhaps, impress one as being and are 
proven by test to be essentially sound; in 
morals, intellect, and physical constitution. 
They may not be brilliant, nor massive physic- 
ally, nor highly spiritual, but there is a nor- 
mality that appears in every trait, a harmony, 
it can be said, which appeals to the aesthetic 
sense. These children are likely to do well 
under all ordinary circumstances of life; their 
success does not appear to depend upon chance, 
or a happy selection of environment. 

Into another class can be placed those chil- 
dren, and we do not know how many there are, 
that are abnormal or exceptional. Both the 



222 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

types that are included under this class seem 
to depend more than the normal upon the con- 
ditions in which they are placed, and the man- 
ner in which they are trained, for their success 
in life. 

For practical purposes, again, the subnormal 
children can be separated into classes accord- 
ing as the defects are physical, intellectual, 
moral, or any two or all of these. The most 
prevalent type appears to be the child who, 
though bright enough to make headway in the 
school, and free from serious moral defects, is 
feeble in constitution, or afflicted with some 
diathesis or disease that limits his progress as 
an individual, and perhaps endangers his off- 
spring. 

The second is the abnormally dull. There 
are all degrees from the child who is stupid or 
confused in some one branch of school work to 
the actually feeble-minded. 

The third type is the morally deficient. The 
most hopeful of this class are the children who 
are bad because of bad environment. Moral 
badness can be produced in almost any child 
by environment, and happily can be corrected 
by improvement in the environment. 

Among mixed types the neurotic bad child, 
with alcoholic or other bad nervous heredity, 
and with physical marks of degeneracy is the 
worst school type considered personally, so- 
cially, and biologically. 



TYPES OF INDIVIDUALS 223 

The child above the usual in one or many 
characteristics is another school type that is 
frequently found. Excess of ability or eccen- 
tricity of mental constitution may not be often 
of the genius order but in many cases it is 
sufficient to make the child ill-adapted to the 
routine of the school. 

Another type is the child who is conspicuous 
for some peculiarity, excess, or defect in the 
sphere of the emotional life. There may or 
may not be physical defect.. 

Other schemes of classification of children 
for the practical purposes of the school could 
be adopted, that should take into account qual- 
ities like ambition, interests, special attainment 
or ability, mental type and the like. Tempera- 
ment, emotional characteristics, and various 
other traits can be used for classification pur- 
poses, according to the object in view. Many at- 
tempts have been made, especially by French 
psychologists to classify temperaments and 
characters, and some of their schemes are 
valuable as guides in observing children. 
The most nearly complete of these seems 
to be the classification plan adopted by Ei- 
bot. He makes first a distinction between 
real and amorphous characters. Amorphous 
characters are those in which hereditary traits 
are weak, and to a great extent determined by 
environment. They have no distinctive fea- 
tures nor permanence. The real characters are 



224 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

divided into two great classes ; the sensitive, and 
the active. In the sensitive character feeling 
predominates; in the active, movement. To 
these two classes can be added a less numerous 
but quite distinct class, the apathetic, in which 
both feeling and action are less than normal, 
or as they appear in the great majority of 
people. This character is not plastic like the 
amorphous. Possibly another character needs 
a special designation, the balanced, or temper- 
ate, that has no great distinguishing feature. 

Each of the main divisions that have been 
described Eibot divides into species. Thus 
there are three divisions of the sensitive type; 
the humble, the contemplative, the emotional. 
The active temperament has two types; the 
mediocre in which mental ability is small, and 
the great active in which there is great mental 
ability. The apathetic temperament also has 
two types, divided according to mental ability; 
first the pure apathetic, with slight sensibility, 
slight activity, slight intelligence; second, the 
apathetic with a powerful intellect. 

Besides these pure types, as they might be 
called, Eibot finds various mixed types ; among 
them the sensitive-active and the apathetic- 
sensitive. There must be distinguished too 
what might be called substitutes for character, 
or partial characters that result from some 
mental aptitude or from some great and dom- 
inating emotion. 



TYPES OF INDIVIDUALS 225 

Many other classification schemes could be 
mentioned; they are so common in the history 
of character-study that it would be impossible 
to describe them all, though each has some- 
thing of value. 

Perez classifies temperament on the basis of 
movements; their rapidity and energy. His 
types are the slow, the lively, the ardent ; then, 
as mixed types, the lively-ardent, the slow-ar- 
dent, the deliberate. 

Fouillee attempts to classify temperaments 
by describing them in terms of certain physi- 
ological traits which he thinks underlie them; 
that is, according to the manner in which ex- 
penditure and restoration of energy take place 
in the nervous system. Volition and muscular 
action are predominantly of the nature of ex- 
penditure; sensation and perception, the con- 
trary. The two types are the sensitive and 
the active, each with two varieties, for in the 
response of the nerve cells there are two funda- 
mental qualities, quickness and intensity. 
Four principle classes of temperament result: 
(1) sensitives with quick but not intense activ- 
ity; (2) sensitives with slow but intense ac- 
tivity; (3) actives with quick, intense action; 
(4) actives with slow and moderate action. 

Seeland, a Eussian writer makes still another 
classification. He detects a hierarchy of char- 
acters passing from the stronger and more 
normal to the weaker and less normal. There 



226 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

are three classes: strong, medium, and weak, 
and several varieties of each. Among the 
strong are the gay, and the phlegmatic or calm ; 
and under the gay again the strong-sanguine, 
the weak-sanguine, and the serene, everything 
depending upon the way in which the nervous 
system responds to internal or external excita- 
tion. 

Two more recent suggestions for a classifica- 
tion of temperaments and mental types can be 
mentioned; both have already been referred to 
in another connection. Binet finds in studying 
intellectual processes, types that can be char- 
acterized as stable and variable. Stern finds 
a difference that he believes to be fundamental 
and a basis for division into intellectual types ; 
that is, a difference in habit of individuals that 
allows them to be classified as objective and 
subjective. This difference between objective 
and subjective habit he finds running through 
habits of perception, attention, apperception, 
judgment, and even in simple motor reactions. 
He concludes that this is the very center of 
differences in mental constitution. 

All such suggestions for classification of in- 
dividuals are helpful for they at least give hints 
for further study. Most of them are based 
upon the study of adults; to what extent they 
will serve also in the study of children is not 
entirely clear. The character of the child ap- 
pears in less sharp outline, and to a certain 



EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS 227 

extent character is still in a state of flux in 
the child, or as it can perhaps better be said, 
exists in fundamental characteristics and has 
not so clearly worked itself out into the traits 
that are more easily observed. 

REFERENCES 
Ribot Psychology of the Emotions. 

in 

PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS 0E INDIVIDUALITY 

Many practical questions arise when children 
are considered as individuals rather than as a 
class. However strongly entrenched one may 
be in the group theory of education, in actual 
practice the individual demands attention. 
There is always the abnormal case with which 
educational forces must deal, and every good 
teacher is always profoundly conscious of the 
individual and his special needs; and is aware 
that the information dispensing function of the 
school reaches but a part of the individuality 
of the child, the one-tenth it can be said, that 
appears above the surface. The emotional life 
which contains the root of individuality is in a 
large measure submerged. Yet the comprehen- 
sion of the submerged nine-tenths on the part 
of those who teach and control the child seems 
vital and necessary. 



228 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

The question arises as to what extent the 
school as such can be expected to view the child 
as an individual, and to what extent training 
in the study of individuals should form a part 
of the preliminary education of the teacher. 
The problem comes sharply to view in consider- 
ing the health of the school child. What ought 
to be expected of the school and the teacher in 
the way of knowledge about the health of each 
individual child, and in efforts to correct de- 
ficiency in the health? How much knowledge 
of physical defects should be expected of the 
teacher? Should the school provide for expert 
examination of the physical condition of each 
child? 

Again, what can the school be expected to 
do for the exceptional child ; the child who never 
can be made to fit into the routine of the school; 
not only the subnormal and defective child but 
the eccentric and exceptionally gifted. Must 
effort constantly be made to bring these chil- 
dren up or down to the average of the group, 
or must they be regarded as different in kind 
from other children, and separately taught ? If 
so, from what source is the information to come 
to guide in the practical treatment of them ? 

Can the school take into account early in 
childhood the strong interests and capacities 
of children, and early provide differentiation 
of training to meet the needs of different types 
of efficiency? What, again, can the school do 



EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS 229 

about those deep-seated differences in character 
and temperament that are so little touched in 
the ordinary routine life of the school? What 
provision can be made for understanding and 
assisting the child whose emotional life is un- 
stable, and for warding off the dangers that 
confront the moral delinquent, the timid, and 
the anti-social child? 

Can we reasonably expect of the school that 
it be so informed about mental differences of 
children as to enable it to treat the child as an 
individual with reference to differences in men- 
tal type, and so to teach him along lines of 
least resistance, and to adopt methods of teach- 
ing especially suited to his intellectual type! 
What can be done for the child whose greatest 
limitation is the poverty of cultural elements 
in his home environment! 

Whatever shall finally be the decision about 
these matters and other questions that arise 
when the needs of individuals are considered the 
organizations for training of teachers and ad- 
ministration of education find these questions 
more and more pressing with the increasing 
complexity of social life, and the differentiation 
of individuals. The condition of the modern 
school in the large city well shows the difficulty 
that confronts education. These schools con- 
tain individuals of many nationalities with 
ideals and occupational tendencies widely differ- 
ing. Compared, for example, with the teacher 



230 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

in a small country community where conditions 
are more uniform, the city teacher stands in 
ignorance about the personality of those she 
teaches. Either, it seems, the school must con- 
fine itself more and more to the training of 
those superficial functions that individuals have 
most nearly identical with one another, and 
which can be understood by the casual ob- 
server of the individual, or the school must 
confess that it works more and more in the 
dark; for that is surely the case if it pretends 
to care for the whole child — unless forces are 
at work that increase the knowledge about in- 
dividuals on the part of teachers, or relieve 
them of the necessity of possessing such knowl- 
edge. 

The deficiency is in part compensated by in- 
creased specialization in the work of education 
and care of the young; as by the development 
of the department teacher and provision for 
more subjects, better taught; by the appear- 
ance in the school system of the medical ex- 
pert, and the like; but, on the other hand, it is 
in just such a partition of the person and the 
distribution of him into the hands of specialists, 
that the individual as a whole is lost from view. 
But the correction does not lie in the direction 
of retrenchment of specialization, but in accept- 
ing the natural result of social development, 
and making the study of individuals itself a 
specialty. Already, as we have seen, that is 



EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS 231 

what is beginning to happen. The methods of 
studying variability in several sciences now be- 
gin to unify the problem of individuality. In 
the practical work of education also there is a 
beginning of specialization of interest favor- 
able to the application of the increasing knowl- 
edge of individuality which is gathering in 
scientific quarters. This differentiation is 
shown in several ways; by such departments 
as the medical office of the school system, the 
department of physical culture, and anthro- 
pometry, the psychological expert, the school 
visitor whose duty it is to investigate the con- 
dition of the school child at home, and to me- 
diate between the child and the school ; by vari- 
ous societies which have as a common aim to 
secure the welfare of children, and which for 
the better pursuit of their practical purposes 
investigate more or less the individuality of 
the person whom they try to help. All these 
aid in the centralization of forces that makes 
for a better knowledge of individuals. In those 
favored cases in which teacher, physician, psy- 
chological specialist, and intelligent parent co- 
operafe in studying the interests of a child 
almost ideal conditions are already obtained. 
The purpose of a conscious interest in the prob- 
lems of individuality on the part of the school 
would be to make these conditions more gen- 
eral. 
Whether in the near future there will be de- 



232 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

velopment and centralization of the scientific as- 
pects of the study of individuality such as 
appears to be gathering on the practical side 
remains to be seen. In Germany there is al- 
ready a growing institute whose function is the 
application of psychology to practical problems, 
one of which, and in fact the leading problem, 
is the study of individuality. Such a method 
of approaching the problems is especially 
needed in the study of individuality because of 
the variety of special interests that must be 
combined and concentrated upon a single pur- 
pose. For not only must the methods of study- 
ing individuals be derived from several sci- 
ences, but contact must be made in a helpful way 
with those who are to apply this knowledge to 
the particular problems of the individual; this 
from the very nature of the case is different 
from other applications of science to practice, 
in which the application can be derived from 
a general rule. 

What is needed is an institution in which 
shall be concentrated all the methods applicable 
to the study of the individual, and which shall 
also serve as a central point for the dissemina- 
tion of practical knowledge, the training of 
experts, collection of literature, and even work 
in examination of individuals, or assistance to 
those who are practically engaged in such work. 
This is speaking of ideals; yet the establish- 
ment of such an ideal method of procedure 



EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS 233 

would be but in line with what is being done in 
other departments of science no more impor- 
tant ; and in fact not different from what is be- 
ing done elsewhere. 

In conclusion, every one who deals practically 
with individuals should be fully conscious of 
what being an individual actually means. It 
means, primarily, to be conscious of power of 
will and free choice, of having the necessity and 
the privilege of carving out one's own fortune. 
But it means also isolation, to be shut up within 
one's own experience, to have perhaps but small 
insight into one's own nature and the forces 
that shape it, to be incapable of expressing this 
individuality fully to anyone; to be therefore 
but half understood even by the most conscien- 
tious helper. This inherent loneliness and iso- 
lation of individuality may be to the individual 
its most real meaning, and may become the 
cause of the greatest tragedies of human life. 

Not only therefore is the problem of the indi- 
vidual one of the greatest both for science and 
for the practical life but it is a problem that 
increases in importance as life becomes more 
complex and as individuals become differenti- 
ated in character and experience. What could 
be more unscientific and less in accord with 
our present-day ideals of efficiency in all pur- 
suits of life than to attempt to direct and con- 
trol our fellows with but the most casual and 
superficial knowledge of their real nature as 



234 INDIVIDUAL STUDY 

individuals; of that which is not expressed in 
any one function or part, and which therefore 
no study of parts and functions by themselves 
will disclose — the individuality. 

And yet such a state of ignorance is prevalent 
to-day not only among teachers but in all the 
professions. 



THE END 



INDEX 

A 

Abnormal children, 221. 

Abnormalities, 69. 

Abnormalities of movement, 88. 

Accuracy of movement, 97. 

Acquired coordination, 41. 

^Esthetic appreciation of body characteristics, 72. 

^Esthetic feeling, 123. 

Ambitions, 131. 

American psychology, 32. 

Analogy, 192. 

Anatomical differences, 18. 

Anger, 116. 

Animal cell, variation of, 38. 

Anthropological methods, 23. 

Apparatus, 82. 

Association, 171. 

Association time, 176. 

Attention, 141. 

Auditory memory, 165 

Automatograph, 99. 

B 

Bertillon's system, 65. 
Bihet, iv, 220, 226. 
Biological hypothesis, 37. 
Body characteristics, 64. 
Brightness, discrimination for, 148. 



Case method, ii. 
Cause and effect, 192. 

235 



236 INDEX 

Chest measurements, 77. 
Choice, rapidity of, 151. 
Clark's experiment, 192. 
Collecting, 130. 
Color discrimination, 148. 
Control of movement, 97. 
Coordination, 39. 
Curiosity, 139. 



Descriptive problem, 12. 
Diagnostic problem, 14. 
Differentiation of individuals, 229. 
Double pressure, 156. 
Drawing, 192. 
Dreams, 180. 
Dynamic problem, 14. 

E 

Emotional defects, 126. 

Emotional life, 113. 

Emotional tone, 117. 

Emotions, method of studying, 114. 

English psychology, 31. 

Estrangement of individuals, 9. 

Ethics and religion, variational methods in, 21. 

Ethnology, variational method in, 22. 

Experience, 135. 

Experimentation, 140. 

Eyes, 57, 67. 



Face, 66. 

Facial expression, 90. 
Facial movement, 88. 
Fatigue, mental, 131. 
Fatigue of movement, 100. 
Fear, 114. 
Figure, 68. 
Fouillee, 225. 



INDEX 237 



G 



Free activity of mind, 178. 
French psychology, 29. 



Gait, 90. 

Galton, 219. 

German psychology, 27. 



Hand balance test, 86. 

Handclasp, 92. 

Hair, 66. 

Head, 65. 

Head measurement, 77. 

Health, examination of, 52. 

Hearing, 59, 153. 

Height, 74. 

Heredity record, 54. 



Imaginary animal, 180. 

Individual-study, 11; as science, 11; future of, 35; within 

psychology, 26; problems of, 11. 
Individuality, factors of, 8; nature of, 77. 
Intelligence, 186; tests of, 188. 
Institute for Individual Study, 231. 
Interest, characteristics of, 103; and environment, 134. 
Interests and instincts, 128. 
Irritability, 39. 



Kellogg's system, 79. 
Kirkpatrick's vocabulary test, 184. 
Kraepelin, 27. 



Language, 184, 196. 
Literary interests, 132. 



238 INDEX 

M 

Manual work, 90. 

Mathematical methods, 51. 

Meaning of individuality, 233. 

Measurement of the body, 73. 

Mechanism of mind, 163. 

Medical diagnosis, 23. 

Medical examination, 55. 

Memory, 163. 

Mental traits, 103. 

Migration interests, 131. 

Mill, 32. 

Moods, 117. 

Moral life, 118. 

Movements, experimental study of, 92. 

Movements, observation of, 85. 

Mutilated text experiment, 182. 

N 

Native coordinations, 40. 
Need of individual study, 9. 
Nervous and mental condition, 56. 
Nervous system, 39. 



Observation, habits of, 142. 
Observational methods, 25. 
(Ehrn, 27. 

Optimum and maximum rate, 96. 
Outline of observation, 111. 

P 

Pain, 159. 

Palmistry, 71. 

Pathological variation, 19. 

Paulham, 29. 

Pearson, 18. 

Pedagogical aspects of individuality, 227. 

Perception, rapidity of, 151. 



INDEX 239 



Perez, 225. 

Personal history, 54. 

Phrenology, 31. 

Physician's attitude, 48. 

Physiological measurements, 82. 

Physiological variation, 19. 

Pitch discrimination, 154. 

Play, 128. 

Postures, 89. 

Practical study of individuals, 47. 

Practical problems, 16. 

Pressure sense, 156. 

Primitive man's problems, 190. 

Proof, 189. 

Property interests, 130. 

Psychological methods, 24. 

Psychological variation, 21. 

Purposive thinking, 186. 

Puzzles, 191. 

R 

Rapidity of mental processes, 131. 

Rapidity of movement, 95. 

Reasoning, 193. 

Record of medical examination, 62. 

Recording of data, 50. 

Reflex arc concept, 42. 

Reflex wink, 100. 

Religious life, 121. 

Retention, 170. 

Rhythm, 155. 

Ribot, 30, 223. 

Rieger's system, 81. 



School interests, 132. 

Search, method of, 189. 

Seeland, 225. 

Senses, 146. 

Sex interests, 129. 



240 INDEX 

Skin, 66. 

Smell, 161. 

Social life, 125. 

Sociology, variational method in, 22. 

Sound discrimination, 153. 

Spearman, 33. 

Steadiness, 98. 

Stern, 28, 226. 

Story writing, 183. 

Strength, 92. " 

Suggestibility, 143. 



Tapping, 95. 
Taste, 160. 
Temperaments, 223. 
Temperature sense, 158. 
Training of teachers, ii. 
Twins, 201. 

Types of individuals, 221. 
Types of movement, 89. 



Variability, 3. 
Variational method, 17. 
Vision, 109; tests of, 57. 
Visual lengths, 150. 
Visual memory, 164. 
Voice, 90. 



W 



Warner's tests, 85. 
Weight, 75. 
Word method, 104. 



APR 9 1910 



/ 



: 






One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



ftlti $ .W 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



1 019 842 235 6 






1 

(tii 

' : 1 [ 
! 

" ' ' ' ' ! ' ' S| ' , , ,' " "„' .J ""i '! :, ij\"'ij: j: i ! fir E ||| x *| v .||. c l|.^il||||||iti||*£I^|l||il|i|ri||i|i 

i;i: : - ; i:i i ii:iil:M:l , '! , i!;-!M l !ijMfi'ni';'!;''^ 





i 

:.'. ill',! 



I 



